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This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the rapidly developing field of microbial sediments, featuring excellent artwork. It contains authoritative and stimulating contributions by distinguished authors that cover the field and set the scene for future advances. Microbes are of key importance in the production, deposition and diagenesis of sediments. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of microbial sediments. It contains authoritative and stimulating contributions by distinguished authors that cover the field and set the scene for future advances. It deals with mats and biofilms, biosedimentary precipitates, fabrics and diagenesis in a wide range of sedimentary environments, and it examines the development of microbial sediments through time. It is designed for postgraduate researchers and professional scientists who require up-to-date information on the influence of microorganisms on sedimentation.

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Preface Structure of Microbial Mats and Biofilms ´Exopolymer Microdomains´ as a Structuring Agent for Heterogeneity Within Microbial Biofilms On Stromatolite Lamination Bacterial calcification Bacterial Roles in the Precipitation of Carbonate Minerals Bacterially Induced Microscale and Nanoscale Carbonate Precipitates Calcification in Cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria: Architects of Sedimentary Structures Fungi and Sediments Diatoms and Benthic Microbial Carbonates Carbon Isotopes and Microbial Sediments Sulphur Isotopes and Microbial Sulphur Cycling in Sediments Products and Depth Limits of Microbial Activity in Petroliferous Subsurface Settings Microbe-metal Interactions in Sediments Microbial Phosphate Sediment Microbes and Black Shales Organic and Biogeochemical Patterns in Cryptic Microbialites Subaerial Microbial Mats and Their Effects on Soil and Rock Microbial Sediments in Tropical Karst Terrains: A Model Based on the Cayman Islands Ambient Temperature Freshwater Microbial Tufas Microbial Precipitates Around Continental Hot Springs and Geysers Evaporite Microbial Sediments Gypsum Microbial Sediments: Neogene and Modern Examples Siliciclastic Intertidal Microbial Sediments Subaqueous Siliciclastic Stromatolites. A Case Study from Late Miocene Beach Deposits in the Sorbas Basin of SE Spain Shallow Marine Microbial Carbonate Deposits Microbial Whitings Cold Seep Carbonates in the Tertiary Of North-West Italy: Evidence of Bacterial Degradation of Methane Processes and Products Fueled by Hydrocarbons At Submarine Seeps Microbial Contribution to Reefal Mud Mounds in Ancient Deep-Water Settings: Evidence from the Cambrian Mesozoic Reefal Thrombolites and Other Microbolites Proterozoic Stromatolite Taxonomy and Biostratigraphy Microbial Versus Environmental Influences on the Morphology of Late Archean Fenestrated Microbialites Archean Stromatolites As Microbial Archives Index

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