Abstract
LIVING vent communities, dependent on microbial chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis, were discovered only in the 1970s1. Since then, six fossil vent communities have been identified; they range in age from early Carboniferous to early Tertiary2–7. Here we describe fossil tubes, an abundant low-diversity fauna and sulphide mineralization in 340-Myr-old Carboniferous carbonate mounds in Newfoundland (Fig. 1a). These features, together with evidence for microbial activity, point to the existence of a seventh chemosynthetic community, clustered around low-temperature hydrothermal vents. The remarkable preservation of this Newfoundland community allows a direct comparison to be made with the composition and structure of modern vent communities.
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von Bitter, P., Scott, S. & Schenk, P. Early Carboniferous low-temperature hydrothermal vent communities from Newfoundland. Nature 344, 145–148 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/344145a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/344145a0
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