THE MICROBIAL “FINGERPRINTS” FROM THE CONTINENTAL LOWER PERMIAN OF POLAND

Abstract

Microbes colonize sediment and alter its properties creating a bio-mineral medium. The microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) are the fossil record of an interaction between the physical environment and such a medium. The present report documents bedding surface structures from the Cisuralian (Asselian) Sandstone Building Member (BSM) of the Słupiec Formation, a unit that outcrops in the south-western Poland, in the Sudetes Mountains. The BSM represents likely continental (fluvial) sedimentary settings. The sedimentary structures on bedding surfaces in the BSM are interpreted as the MISS. The observations of the bedding structures are supplemented with thin section data that support the microbial interpretation of the bedding surface structures. The Słupiec Formation MISS record supplements the global patchy fossil record of the post-Cambrian (Paleozoic) MISS from the non-marine settings.