From: PO3::"m.a.vanzuilen@siep.shell.com" "Zuilen, M.A. van" 3-MAY-1996 11:22:40.26 To: sweets@indiana.edu CC: Subj: First Appearance Date of Diatoms Dear mr. Sweets, I am a student in organic geochemistry, currently studying biomarker molecules related to diatoms. One of the pieces of information I need for my investigations is the first appearance datum of diatoms in the geological time record. The ages used by different authors range from Barremian (lower cretaceous) to Santonian (upper cretaceous). The real origin of diatoms should be much older. Maybe you know whether this age is much better determined. Or maybe you know of some articles about this topic. M.A. van Zuilen Rijswijk The Netherlands From: PO2::"Reed.Scherer@natgeog.uu.se" "Reed Scherer" 6-MAY-1996 02:00:57.28 To: "P. Roger Sweets" CC: Subj: Re: The beginning of diatoms DIATOMS GO BACK AT LEAST TO THE JURASSIC. A FEW GOOD LOWER CRETACEOUS RECORDS EXIST AND THERE ARE NUMEROUS GOOD UPPER CRETACEOUS RECORDS. FOR A REVIEW OF RECORDS OF EARLY DIATOMS SEE HARWOOD, D., AND GERSONDE, R., 1990. LOWER CRETACEOUS DIATOMS FROM ODP LEG 113 SITE 693 PART 2: RESTING SPORES.... PROCEEDINGS OF THE OCEAN DRILLING PROGRAM VOL. 113 403-425. REED SCHERER >Subj: First Appearance Date of Diatoms > >Dear mr. Sweets, >I am a student in organic geochemistry, currently studying biomarker >molecules related to diatoms. One of the pieces of information I need >for my investigations is the first appearance datum of diatoms in the >geological time record. The ages used by different authors range from >Barremian (lower cretaceous) to Santonian (upper cretaceous). The real >origin of diatoms should be much older. Maybe you know whether this age >is much better determined. Or maybe you know of some articles about this >topic. > >M.A. van Zuilen >Rijswijk >The Netherlands > > From: PO3::"mone@cimrs1.mnhn.fr" "Simone Servant" 6-MAY-1996 04:14:05.86 To: "P. Roger Sweets" CC: Subj: Re: The beginning of diatoms >I received this request in my email, and thought the list might enjoy >getting into this subject. > >From: PO3::"m.a.vanzuilen@siep.shell.com" "Zuilen, M.A. van" >To: sweets@indiana.edu >CC: >Subj: First Appearance Date of Diatoms > >Dear mr. Sweets, >I am a student in organic geochemistry, currently studying biomarker >molecules related to diatoms. One of the pieces of information I need >for my investigations is the first appearance datum of diatoms in the >geological time record. The ages used by different authors range from >Barremian (lower cretaceous) to Santonian (upper cretaceous). The real >origin of diatoms should be much older. Maybe you know whether this age >is much better determined. Or maybe you know of some articles about this >topic. > >M.A. van Zuilen >Rijswijk >The Netherlands > >see : Foucault, A., Servant-Vildary, S., Nianqiao F., Powichrowski, L.=20 1986. "Un des plus anciens gisements de diatom=E9es d=E9couvert dans=20 l'Albien-Cenomanien inf=E9rieur des Alpes Ligures (Italie). Remarques sur=20 l'apparition de ces algues" C.R.Acad. Sc. Paris, 303 II, 5 : pp 397- 402 I am interested to receive your publications on this theme.=20 Simone Servant-Vildary Antenne Orstom Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle Laboratoire de geologie 43 rue Buffon 75005 Paris Tel: 33 1 40 79 34 70 Fax: 33 1 40 79 37 39 E-mail mone@mnhn.fr From: PO3::"frithjof@PI.NET" "F.A.S.Sterrenburg" 8-MAY-1996 04:56:10.49 To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L CC: Subj: Re: The beginning of diatoms Just for the record, I think reference should be made to "Diatomee del Permiano e del Carbonifero" by Zanon, V., in Mem. Pont. Accad. Sci. (NL II), 1930. I seem to remember these were eventually traced down to contamination via the water mains. From: PO2::"EYH@WPO.NERC.AC.UK" "Elizabeth Haworth" 10-MAY-1996 11:07:52.34 To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L CC: Subj: The Beginning of Diatoms Just to add to the speculative literature - Does anyone recall the paper presented by Marta Hajos at the 1980 Diatom Symposium in Budapest, where she thought that there might be diatoms in Devonian marble. I don't know if it was published, as fossil papers were presented in a separate publication to the rest and I don't have a copy. Was there any further work, was this ever refuted? E. Y. Haworth Institute of Freshwater Ecology Ambleside, Cumbria, UK. From: PO2::"hendrik.demiddele@VENBELGIUM.COM" "Demiddele Hendrik" 10-MAY-1996 17:07:36.15 To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L CC: Subj: The beginning of diatoms LK Medlin, R. Gersonde, w.H.C.F. Kooistra, P.A.Sims and U.Wellbrock. A molecular phylogeny of the diatoms: implications for the early diversification of the group based on sequence analysis of the nuclear small-subunit rRNA gene and the fossil record. A phylogeny of the diatoms has been inferred from nuclear-encoded small subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence analysis of 30 taxa in 11 orders. Max. likelihood, weighted max. parsimony, neighbor-joining, and LogDet transformation methods each recover two clades, neither of which correspond to the classes of diatoms presently recognized: Class Coscinodiscophyceae, Class Fragilariophyceae and Class Bacillariophyceae. Nor do the clades correspond to the tradionally recognized centric and pennate diatoms. One clade is definied by the centric diatom orders Coscinodiscales, Rhizosoleniales, Corethrales and Melosirales. The second clade contains the bi- (multi) polar centric diatoms, the centric diatoms with strutted processes, and the pennate diatoms. Tests of alternative phylogenies under max. likelihood strongly support these divergences. Fossil evidence from the earliest best-preserved diatom deposit (115-110 Ma ago, ocean Drill. Prog.Leg 113, Site 693 Antartica) also suggests that these divergences in the diatoms occured early in their evolution and are correlated taxonomically with the abscence (clade one) or presence (clade two) of a central tube in the sillica cell wall. Its presence can be traced to the central tube or labiate process in the bipolar centric taxa, to the central tube or strutted process in the order Thalassiosiarales and probaly to the organelle that evolved into the raphe of the pennate diatoms. Divergence times place the origin of the diatoms around 300 Ma ago (Carboniferous). hendrik.demiddele@venbelgium.com From: PO4::"ptapia@UNLINFO.UNL.EDU" "pedro tapia" 11-MAY-1996 11:39:40.33 To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L CC: Subj: Cretaceous diatoms (Sorry it seems that I first sent this message at the wrong address). > Hi all, > Around 3 weeks ago I defended my MS work about Upper Cretaceous diatoms > and since lately there are several posts dealing with diatom history, > evolution, and archaeomonads, I thought to give my 2 cents worth > contribution. Some ideas and querries about silicoflagellates and > resting spores are also included. Some of you know my work since I > contacted individually or if you attended the last North America Diatom > Symposium. Other that might be interested in what I found and > proposed can look at the end of this message where an abstract is > included. > Beside some exceptions, most of our knowlege of diatom morphology, > biostratigraphy and ideas in evolution are based on Cenozoic diatoms. > If we notice the very first true occurence of diatoms in the Lower > Cretaceous (Barremian drillcores from Australia -preliminary work of > Harwood and Nikolaev- and Aptian-Albian sediments from ODP Leg 113), > we are talking about a time span of 120 m.y. If we place the K/T boundary > at about 66 M.a., the Cretaceous record roughly represents half of the > known diatom history. Within the Cretaceous we have more gaps than > occurences beeing the Campanian diatoms (and Maastrichtian in a minor scale) > better represented in the stratigraphic record. I had one of this rare > opportunity to work with sediments that bear a continuous, rich siliceous > microflora which allowed me to better understand (?) the diatom and > associated flora record. > In general you don't find Lower K flora in the Upper K sediments. The > encounter of Gladius antiquus and other associated L.K. flora is > registered for the very first time in Arctic Canada. I don't want to > extend much this because it can become boring. A few more lines regarding > resting spores, silicoflagellates and chrysophyte endocysts. > In the course of my work I registered the most extrange, bizarre and > diverse resting spore you can imagine. And they also represents an > important component in the microfossil distribution. This is also > comparable with the total number of the low diverse chrysophyte cysts. > I don't know what exactly represents this bloom of archaeomonads in my > samples, and ideas from cooling conditions or ecophenotype adaptations > crossed out my mind. Does anybody in the list have experience with > chrysophytes at diferents time periods linking climatic changes? > Finally, when I was recording the silicos the association of Lyramula, > Vallacerta, Cornua, Corbisema, and Arctyocha told me ...cool you are in > the Upper K. until I registered Mesocena (or Bachmanocena?), Dictyocha fibula or > aspera, and something like Hannaites. So I thought wow, CONTAMINATION, > and process new samples but they are still there. There is no > indication of Distephanus or Naviculopsis, so I guess only SEM will > tell me what I really have. > A final question about the begginig of the diatom post (Demiddele > Hendrik). How did you figure out the origin of the diatoms at the > Carboniferous? It have to be with the presence of processes? > In the Lower K. we have the most bizarre types: > perforate, uvular, annulate, rhyncho-shape, scissurate-haplo. The > Labiate process appeared in the Upper K. as well the araphide diatoms. The > strutted process is only a "young" evolutionary feature that appeared > "recently" in the Mid Tertiary. > > > > CAMPANIAN DIATOM BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF ARCTIC CANADA > > Pedro M. Tapia, M.S. > University of Nebraska, 1996 > > Advisor: David M. Harwood > > Sediments containing diverse and moderately well-preserved Upper > Cretaceous siliceous microfossil assemblages were identified in the Canadian > Arctic. Four sections were examined from (1) Slidre Fjord on Ellesmere Island; > (2) Hoodoo Dome on Ellef Ringnes Island; (3) Cape Nares on Eglinton > Island; and (4) Horton River on the Anderson Plains, Northwest Territories. A > total of one hundred-twelve samples were analyzed from a composite > stratigraphic thickness of 1094 m of the Smoking Hills, Mason River and Kanguk > formations. Four biostratigraphic zones are proposed for the Upper Cretaceous > based on the stratigraphic distribution of diatoms: (i) the Upper Cenomanian to > Upper Santonian (?) Gladius antiquus Partial Range Zone, (ii) the Lower > Campanian Costopyxis antiqua Range Zone, (iii) the lower Upper Campanian > Trinacria indefinita Interval Zone and (iv) the upper Upper Campanian > Stephanopyxis simonseni Partial Range Zone. Two hundred-three diatom taxa, twenty > silicoflagellate taxa, and sixteen chrysophyte endocyst taxa were > identified. Common diatom in these floras are Costopyxis ornata, C. > schulzii, Cortinocornus rossicus, Meristiosolen sp. 1, Paralia > sulcata, Stephanopyxis dissonus, S. grunowi, S. simonseni, Thalassiosiropsis > wittiana, and Trinacria acutangula. The abundance of colonial > (chain-forming) diatoms and resting spores, along with the small > number of solitary (free-living) diatom cells suggests an upwelling environment. > The diatom assemblage reported here is similar to that of Alpha Ridge > (Arctic Ocean Basin), the Ural Mountains (Russia), and the Campbell Plateau > (SW Pacific Ocean), enabling diatom-based biostratigraphic correlations > within the northern high-latitudes and to deposits in the southern > high-latitudes. Sufficient data is now available from biostratigraphic > studies of these Upper diatom assemblages to consider the construction of > a standard zonal framework. > -- Pedro M. Tapia ***************************************************************************** University of Nebraska Voice: (402) 472-2604 Department of Geology Fax: (402) 472-4917 214 Bessey Hall Home: (402) 475-0918 Lincoln, NE 68588-0340 e-mail: ptapia@unlinfo.unl.edu ***************************************************************************** From: PO4::"burckle@LDGO.COLUMBIA.EDU" "Lloyd Burckle" 13-MAY-1996 17:02:24.36 To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L CC: Subj: I have glanced over some of the notes on the origin of diatoms and their age of initiation and have a few comments: 1. About 20 years ago, David Jablonski told me that he was finding diatoms (presumeably benthic) attached to the shells of Cretaceous ammonites. I passed this on to a few colleagues at the time but never followed up to see if anyone else had tried to recover diatoms from ammonites. Anyway, this might be an environment for finding diatoms. There are many examples of Ammonites and Nautiloids (as well as other fossils) preserved in life position which could be examined for diatoms. 2. One of the problems with finding diatoms in older Mesozoic rocks is that marine sediments tend to be less common than for other Periods. However, I have often wondered if anyone has looked at the Franciscan Formation in California. It is an accretionary wedge and, therefore, should have planktic marine organisms in it. I know that radiolarian have been recovered from it. Come to think of it there are many late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic exotic terranes (that were accreted to the North American plate) in the American west that could harbour diatoms. These are primarily in northern California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. If one were to consider looking for Mesozoic freshwater diatoms then the the east coast (of the U.S.) Triassic Basins might be a good choice. Besides surface exposures there are a number of drilled cores (mostly in New Jersey) which penetrated into interbedded lakes and terrestrial sediments. I am told that the lakes wax and wane at Milankovish periodicities. Further, although marine Triassic sediments are not commonly exposed, I recall that there is a complete marine sequence covering the Permian/Triassic boundary in Pakistan. 3. The suggestion that diatoms originated in the Carboniferous could possibly be tested in the geological record. There are Carboniferous cherts in the Great Basin of the U.S. These are referred to as "lunch meat cherts" because they form interbeds (about 5 to 10 cm thick) in limestones. I remember that years ago Fagan reported finding partially dissolved radiolarian in them. Now that there are better methods fro extracting fossil material from cherts one might try to see if diatoms are also present. 4. Another place to look for old diatoms is in concretions. The Neogene sediments of Panama do not contain diatoms. Yet, we found them in concretions and were able to date these sediments. Any other ideas or comments? Lloyd Burckle From: PO4::"rcrawford@AWI-BREMERHAVEN.DE" "Richard Crawford" 14-MAY-1996 07:07:54.09 To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L CC: Subj: Anlage- Begleitnotiz Anlage- 9:54 Uhr 14.05.19 [ ]Kenntnisnahme und Verbleib [ ]Bitte umgehend antworten [ ]Kenntnisnahme und Ruckgabe [ ]Zur weiteren Veranlassung [ ]Kommentar erbeten [ ]Bezuglich Ihrer Anfrage [ ]Genehmigung erbeten [ ]Zur Unterschrift [ ]Zu den Akten [ ]Zur Information [ ]Zur Unterschrift vorbereiten [ ]Untersuchung und Bericht [ ]Rucksprache erbeten Bemerkung: Dick Crawford gave me a series of messages from the diatom-L net regarding the evolutionary age of the diatoms. According to our latest molecular clock calculations, it is unlikely that the diatoms existed before 238 - 266 Ma. Their earliest fossil record is from northern Germany and is 185 Ma old. Therefore, the diatoms are between 185 and 266 Ma old. Albeit an inprecise estimate, It is a lot better than " anywhere between 185 Ma and the precambrian. How did we get these figures? We inferred phylogenetic trees (distance, linearized distance, maximum likelihood) from 18S rDNA sequences of 30 diatom taxa and many other heterokonts as outgroups. We then superimposed first appearance times of diatom genera onto their branch points of origin, regressed the branch lengths on the first appearance times and calculated the earliest possible origin for the diatoms according to the methods presented in Hillis and Moritz 1990 (last Chapter in Hillis and Moritz "Molecular Systematics, Sinauer Ass. Inc. see also Medlin et al. Nova Hedwigia Beibeft 112 for figures) The tree building method used does influence the age estimates to some extent (238 Ma according to the distance tree; 266 Ma according to the max. lik. tree). However, the interpretation of gaps in the fossil record have a much greater effect. There exist two gaps, one from 185 to 115 Ma and one from 110 to 70 Ma. The latter is a period from which we have only poorly-preserved fossils. If we assume that the genera that first appear right after the gap from 110 and 70 Ma, have their origin at 70 Ma, then the earliest possible origin of the diatoms is younger than their first fossil record at 185 Ma. So, this assumption must be wrong. If we assume that those genera first appearing at 70 ma are 90 Ma old or, if they are very similar to fossil genera at 115 Ma, are 115 Ma old, then we get the 238 - 266 Ma outcome. If we assume the Thalassiosirales to be 115 Ma old (Praethalassiosiropsis), then the earliest possible origin of the diatoms is not pushed further back in time but the probability range around the average age is much narrower. (in press in Mol. Phyl. Evol. See also Medlin et al. Nova Hedwigia Beibeft 112 and Medlin et al. 1996 Mol. Biol. Evol. 13: 67-75) This estimate is however, younger than the estimate of 300 Ma we recently published in an abstract that was sent to the diatom-L by Hendrik Demiddele. This estimate was based on a data set wit extremely fast and aberrantly evolving taxa included. Such taxa make any estimate imprecise. We are in the process of getting more and more diatom 18S rDNA sequences and are particularly interested in the diatoms at the taxonomic grey zone between the pennates and the centrics. If anybody has cultures of such things, please contact us. Wiebe Kooistra & Linda Medlin Am Handelshafen 12 27570 Bremerhaven (Germany) wkooistra@awi-bremerhaven.de From burckle@LDGO.COLUMBIA.EDUWed Aug 14 12:33:33 1996 Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 05:29:30 EDT From: Lloyd Burckle To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L Subject: Re: analysis chlorophyll Dear Fellow Diatomists Sometime ago there was a discussion about the oldest diatoms and how one might go about locating them in the geological record. In my note to the newsgroup I suggested a number of things (concretions, cherts, etc.). Last night, I had another idea about where to look. The latest issue of Discover has an article about a woman at the U. of California in Santa Barbara who studies the contents of coprolites. The pictures and the text indicate that considerable material is preserved in them including plant tissue and evidence of dung borers. Some years ago a colleague told me of finding muscle tissue in carnivore coprolites. He gave me some late Miocene/early Pliocene antelope coprolites from the Sahabi region, Libya and, after processing them, I found freshwater diatoms. This was published around 1984 as Boaz and Burckle (I am in Stockholm for the summer so I don't have the reference handy). Given my experience with them, I think that it might be useful to examine Dinosaur coprolites for early freshwater (or marine) diatoms. There is considerable advantage to examining this materiaL. Each one is huge (as you might suspect) and represents a considerable sampling of the local flora (and water). The article pointed out that the colleague from Santa Barbara has made numerous thin sections of the coprolites so it might be possible to examine these rather than process new material. Just a thought. Lloyd Burckle From burckle@LDGO.COLUMBIA.EDUWed Aug 14 12:33:59 1996 Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1996 04:19:24 EDT From: Lloyd Burckle To: Multiple recipients of list DIATOM-L Subject: Re: coprolites Dear Fellow Diatomists: Thanks for the information that Christina de la Rocha gave about Karen Chin. Yes she is the one that I was referring to. I don't know where she has gone but it can't be far, what with a load of Dinosaur coprolites. After I sent my message i recalled that I had also sampled penguin droppings on an island in the Ross sea. The droppings ranged in age from the present to possibly as old as 8,000 years and contained from 5 to 10% diatoms. Such information gives some idea how far the penguins range from their rookery in search of food. I was struck by the fact that the local planktonics were not present in the droppings. Regards, > Lloyd Burckle>