Isotope and microelement systematics of Gallionella sp.-containing bacterial mats from the northwest of the East European Platform.

Microelement composition of Gallionella sp.-containing bacterial mats from the environs of St. Petersburg and isotope composition of organic carbon, strontium, and neodymium from these mats have been determined. Isotope and microelement systematics of iron oxides of bacterial origin characterize the geochemistry of aquafacies that contain ferrobacteria. Certain pre-Cambrian ferruginous quartzites have a similar composition; therefore, one may assume that bacterial oxidation of iron under continental conditions had occurred upon the formation of ironstone during the Precambrian.

Cyanobacteria(?) in iron banded formations of the Kursk magnetic anomaly.

Fossilized cyanobacteria(?) represented by trichomes enclosed in common sheaths were detected in early Proterozoic iron banded formations of the Kursk magnetic anomaly (limonite-martite ores of the Lebedinsky mine and iron banded formations of the Korobkovskoye deposit). These fossils morphologically similar to current representatives of the genus Microcoleus were buried in situ.

[K+/Na+ in the animal extracellular fluid at weathering of granitoids and problem of the origin of life].

Leaching of granitoids of the paleoproterozoic age was performed from several seconds to 360 days in water solutions (pH < 6.0) in the oxygen or argon medium. Under these conditions the entrance of K+ into the solution has been shown to occur at the higher rate than that of Na+. The obtained data are considered as evidence in favor of a possibility of the existence at the earlier stages of the Earth geologic history of water reservoirs with predominance of K+ over Na+. The K+/Na+ ratio exceeding 1 has been shown in prokaryotes, in cells and tissues of the free living and parasitic species of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. At the same time in the extracellular fluid of the fresh water, marine, and terrestrial animals, in which the Na+ concentration varies from 13 to 482 mmol/l, the K+/Na+ ratio is preserved at the level of 0.034 +/- 0.001. These results are discussed in connection with the problem of origin of protocells and of concentration ratios of monovalent cations in water phases of multicellular organisms.