Biogenic Forsterite and Opal as a Product of Biodeterioration and Lichen Stromatolite Formation in Table Mountain Systems (Tepuis) of Venezuela

Abstract

Biogenic physical weathering and leaching of the quartzite dominated table mountain systems of South America is a slow but strongly biologically influenced process. Observations and analyses on the basis of sample materials collected during an expedition to the protected areas of the most conspicuous tepuis of Venezuela are reported. The rock material consists of more than 98% silica, and the waters collected reflect rainwater quality further deprived of some essential elements. Wear-down of these rocks is recognized as a biogeomorphogenetic process ruled by the microbiota surviving under harsh and nutrient-poor conditions. Poikilotrophic subaerial biofilms of cyanobacteria, fungi, and some lichens perforate quartz grains and idiomorphic quartz crystals, as well as the subcrystalline cement. The typical pattern of biopitting is regarded as proof of biogenic quartz destruction. Within the subaerial biofilms, which form a massive cover of the slowly biocorroded rock surface, lichens were found that mineralize to microstromatolitic structures in situ. The mineralization occurs exclusively in the lichen thalli and not in the associated massive biofilms of free-living cyanobacteria and fungi. The minerals deposited were identified as opal and considerable amounts of forsterite, the pure Mg end-member of the olivine mixing series (fayalite being the pure iron silicate). Forsterite, thus far, has been regarded as an igneous mineral phase typical for mantle-derived rocks, highly metamorphic dolomitic marbles, and as a planetary mineral found in meteorites. The biogenic dissolution/mineralization paragenesis is explained by the slow weathering and bioleaching processes dominant on these table mountains and by the exclusion of all other potential biomineralization products due to the peculiar geochemistry of the interstitial and run-off water on these plateaus, thus leading to the exceptional biogenesis of forsterite under surface conditions.