Home / Introductions to both Fossil and Recent Plant Taxa / Cyanobacteria and Stromatolites

John Adamek et al. (including fossil dealers): The Virtual Fossil Museum. Search results: Stromatolite.

Gregory Ahearn, University of North Florida: The Diversity of Prokaryotes and Viruses. In PDF.
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

American Society for Microbiology:
A Manual of Biofilm related exercises.
An online collection of exercises which can be conducted to illustrate the formation and properties of microbial biofilms.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

! Microbial Mat Research at Ames Research Center: What are Microbial Mats?
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

M.A.M. Aref et al. (2014): Microbial and physical sedimentary structures in modern evaporitic coastal environments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In PDF, Facies. See also here.

! S.M. Awramik (2006): Respect for stromatolites. In PDF, Nature, 441.

! Stanley M. Awramik, Department of Earth Science, University of California Santa Barbara:
The Record of Life on the Early Earth. Lecture notes, Powerpoint presentation.

L. Battison and M.D. Brasier (2009): Exceptional Preservation of Early Terrestrial Communities in Lacustrine Phosphate One Billion Years Ago. Abstract.
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! F.A. Battistuzzi and S.B. Hedges (2009): Archaebacteria., and Eubacteria. PDF files, In: S.B. Hedges and S. Kumar (eds.): The Timetree of Life (see here).

! Nicholas H. Barton (Edinburgh University), Derek E.G. Briggs (Yale University), Jonathan A. Eisen (University of California, Davis), David B. Goldstein (Duke University Medical Center), and Nipam H. Patel (University of California, Berkeley): Evolution (by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press). This textbook is designed to serve as the primary text for undergraduate courses in evolution. It differs from currently available alternatives in containing more molecular biology than is traditionally the case. Go to: Table of Contents: Some figures and tables free of charge! See: Evolution Figures: Chapter 4.

Ernst-Georg Beck, Merian-Schule Freiburg: Biokurs (in German). Go to: Präkambrium: Hadäan (4,6 Milliarden Jahre - 3,8 Milliarden Jahre).

Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkely: Introduction to the Cyanobacteria. Architects of earth's atmosphere.

T.R.R. Bontognali et al. (2012): Sulfur isotopes of organic matter preserved in 3.45-billion-year-old stromatolites reveal microbial metabolism. In PDF, PNAS, 109: 15146-15151. See also here.

Pierre-André Bourque, Département de géologie et de génie géologique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada: Planète Terre, Les stromatolites (in French). See also here.

! M. Brasier et al. (2006): A fresh look at the fossil evidence for early Archaean cellular life. In PDF, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, Biol Sci., 361: 887–902. See also here.

U. Brehm et al. (2003): Microbial Spheres from Microbial Mats. PDF file; In: Fossil and recent Biofilms A natural History of Life on Earth, p.161-172, edited by Krumbein WE, Paterson DW, Zavarzin, GA, Kluwer Academic Press Publishers, 2003.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Alison Campbell, Penelope Cooke, Kathrin Cass and Kerry Earl, The "Evolution for Teaching" Website Project, University of Waikato, New Zealand: The Evolution of Life. Information about the evolution of life on Earth. Go to: The earliest cells and stromatolites - The Archaean Period (3800 m.y. - 2500m.y.)

E. Couradeau et al. (2013): Cyanobacterial calcification in modern microbialites at the submicrometer-scale. In PDF, Biogeosciences Discuss., 10: 3311-3339.

! Michael Clayton, Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison: Instructional Technology (BotIT). Some image collections. Excellent! Go to:
Bacteria

! M. Currie, Dr. Ken Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum, (Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada): The Wonderful World of Stromatolites.

Heribert Cypionka, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), University of Oldenburg, Germany: Microbiological Garden.

S.A.F. Darroch et al. (2012): Experimental formation of a microbial death mask. In PDF, Palaios, 27: 293-303. See also here.

A.W. Decho (2000): Microbial biofilms in intertidal systems: an overview. In PDF, Continental Shelf Research, 20.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! C.F. Demoulin (2019): Cyanobacteria evolution: Insight from the fossil record. In PDF, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 140: 206–223.
See also here.
Note table 1: Summary of microfossil morphological features, habitat, occurrences and their modern analogues.
Figure 3: Microfossils record of unambiguous, probable and possible cyanobacteria.
"... Cyanobacterial fossil record starts unambiguously at 1.89–1.84 Ga and the minimum age for the oxygenic photosynthesis starts with the GOE [Great Oxidation Event] around 2.4 Ga. ..."

Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP), Western Australia: Stromatolites.

Melanie DeVore, Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, GA:
! Life of the PreCambrian: Archean & Proterozoic.
! The Evolution of Plants.
Powerpoint presentations. Provided by D. Freile, New Jersey City University: Historical Geology.

C. Diéguez et al. (2009): A fern-bennettitalean floral assemblage in Tithonian-Berriasian travertine deposits (Aguilar Formation, Burgos-Palencia, N Spain) and its palaeoclimatic and vegetational implications. In PDF, Journal of Iberian Geology, 35: 127-140.
Specimens preserved as impressions coated with a microbial film up to 5 mm thick made up of bacteria and cyanobacteria.
See also here.

Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia:
Early Earth and the Origins of Life.
Powerpoint presentation.

X. Duan et al. (2018): Early Triassic Griesbachian microbial mounds in the Upper Yangtze Region, southwest China: Implications for biotic recovery from the latest Permian mass extinction. Open access, PLoS ONE, 13: e0201012.

! C. Dupraz et al. (2009): Processes of carbonate precipitation in modern microbial mats. In PDF, Earth-Science Reviews, 96: 141-162. See also here.
Note figure 1: The microbially-mediated carbon cycle.
! Figure 2: Classification of mineralization terms and processes showing the different types of mineralization as they relate to living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) organic matter.
"... Preservation of microbial mats in the fossil record can be enhanced through carbonate precipitation, resulting in the formation of lithified mats, or microbialites.
[...] we review the specific role of microbes and the EPS matrix in various mineralization processes and discuss examples of modern aquatic (freshwater, marine and hypersaline) and terrestrial microbialites ..."

! C. Dupraz and P.T. Visscher (2005): Microbial lithification in marine stromatolites and hypersaline mats. In PDF, Trends in microbiology.
See also here.

Yoichi Ezaki et al., Department of Geosciences, Osaka City University, Sugimoto, Osaka, Japan: Earliest Triassic Microbialite Micro- to Megastructures in the Huaying Area of Sichuan Province, South China: Implications for the Nature of Oceanic Conditions after the End-Permian Extinction. Abstract, PALAIOS, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 388-402.

J. Farmer (1999): Articel starts on page 94, PDF page 110: Taphonomic Modes in Microbial Fossilization. In PDF; In: Proceedings of the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Organisms, Space Studies Board, National Research Council, National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Jack Farmer, Arizona State University: Microbial Mats and Stromatolites. PDF file.

R.L. Folk (2005): Nannobacteria and the formation of framboidal pyrite: Textural evidence. PDF file, Journal of Earth System Science, 114: 369-374.

Fossil Mall (stores of fossil dealers): Stromatolite Fossils, and Stromatolite References.

Friends of Petrified Sea Gardens, Inc.: Saratoga Springs, New York. National natural and historic landmark. The "Petrified Sea Garden" is a fossilized stromatolite ocean-reef 500 million-years-old.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

T. Fujikawa et al. (2024): Comparative analysis of reconstructed ancestral proteins with their extant counterparts suggests primitive life had an alkaline habitat. Open access, Scientific Reports, 14. 398. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50828-4.
Note figure 4: Candidate habitats for primitive life and their estimated pH values.
"... To understand the origin and early evolution of life it is crucial to establish characteristics of the primordial environment
[...] Our results indicate that the reconstructed ancestral proteins are more akin to those of extant alkaliphilic bacteria, which display greater stability under alkaline conditions. These findings suggest that the common ancestors of bacterial and archaeal species thrived in an alkaline environment ..."

Anthony G. Futcher, Columbia Union College, Maryland: Plant Diversity. A lot of facts about plant groups, fungi, plant-like protists, and monerans, including taxonomy, life cycles, general structure, and representative genera. Go to:
Division Cyanophyta - Blue-green Algae/Bacteria.
These expired links are still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

James G. Gehling, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles: Siliciclastics: Ediacaran Death Masks. Abstract, Palaios Vol. 14.1 (via wayback).

C Glunk et al. (2010): Microbially mediated carbonate precipitation in a hypersaline lake, Big Pond (Eleuthera, Bahamas). In PDF, Sedimentology.
See also here.

M.L. Gomes et al. (2021): Sedimentary pyrite sulfur isotope compositions preserve signatures of the surface microbial mat environment in sediments underlying low-oxygen cyanobacterial mats. Open access, Geobiology, 20: 60-78. See also here (in PDF).

B.R.C. Granier et al. (2021): The Kalkowsky Project-Chapter I. Ooid-stromatoid relationship in a stromatolite from the Maiz Gordo Fm (Argentina). In PDF, Carnets Geol., 21. See also here.

C.J. Harper et al. (2020): Filamentous cyanobacteria preserved in masses of fungal hyphae from the Triassic of Antarctica. Free access, PeerJ, 8: e8660 https://doi.org.

Y. Ibarra et al. (2016): A microbial carbonate response in synchrony with the end-Triassic mass extinction across the SW UK. Sci Rep., 6.

F. Käsbohrer et al. (2021): Exkursionsführer zur Geologie des Unteren Buntsandsteins (Untertrias) zwischen Harz und Thüringer Wald. PDF file, in German. Hercynia, 54: 1-64.
! Note fig. 7: Views of the giant stromatolite in the former quarry near Benzingerode.

Bob Keller, Bob's Rock Shop: Stromatolite Fossils in the Hakatai Shale. A Day Hike from Phantom Ranch - Grand Canyon National Park.
Website outdated, download a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

S. Kershaw (2017): Palaeogeographic variation in the Permian-Triassic boundary microbialites: A discussion of microbial and ocean processes after the end-Permian mass extinction. Journal of Palaeogeography.

J. Kleinteich et al. (2017): Cyanobacterial Contribution to Travertine Deposition in the Hoyoux River System, Belgium. Abstract, Microbial Ecology. See also here (in PDF).

! Dave Krogmann, Purdue University (supported by the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University): Cyanosite. A webserver for cyanobacterial research. Visit the Cyanobacteria image gallery presenting over 200 images or videos of cyanobacteria.

W.E. Krumbein et al.: Biofilm, Biodictyon, and Biomat - Biolaminites, Oolites, Stromatolites - Geophysiology, Global mechanisms and Parahistology. PDF file; In: Fossil and recent Biofilms A natural History of Life on Earth, p.1-28, edited by Krumbein WE, Paterson DW, Zavarzin, GA, Kluwer Academic Press Publishers, 2003.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, Stockholm: The Crafoord Prize. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Crafoord Prize in Biosciences 2003 of USD 500 000 to Carl R. Woese, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA "for his discovery of a third domain of life".

U. Kutschera (2009): Symbiogenesis, natural selection, and the dynamic Earth. PDF file, Theory Biosci., 128: 191-203.

! C.C. Labandeira (2005): Invasion of the continents: cyanobacterial crusts to tree-inhabiting arthropods. In PDF, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 20.

! T.M. Lenton and S.J. Daines (2016): Matworld - the biogeochemical effects of early life on land. In PDF, New Phytologist.

! K. Lepot (2020): Signatures of early microbial life from the Archean (4 to 2.5 Ga) eon. Free access, Earth-Science Reviews, 209. See also here.

G. Levit and W.E. Krumbein (2003): Is there an adequate terminology of biofilms and microbial mats? PDF file, In: Fossil and recent Biofilms A natural History of Life on Earth, p.353-362, edited by Krumbein WE, Paterson DW, Zavarzin, GA, Kluwer Academic Press Publishers, 2003.
See also here.

Kevin Lepot et al., (2008): Microbially influenced formation of 2,724-million-year-old stromatolites. Abstract, Nature Geoscience 1: 118 - 121.

F.-W. Li et al. (2018): Fern genomes elucidate land plant evolution and cyanobacterial symbioses. Open access, Nature Plants, 4: 460–472.

Jere H. Lipps, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, CA (The Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research): Fossil Prokaryotes and Protists: a Slide Set. The Cushman Foundation, a non-profit public foundation, was founded for the purpose of publishing results of research on Foraminiferida and allied organisms. Go to: Stromatolites and Prokaryotes.

Rolf Ludvigsen and Brian Chatterton, Natural Resources Canada: Past lives: Chronicles of Canadian paleontology. Accounts, stories and anecdotes about the people who collected or studied specific Canadian fossils. Go to: Gunflint Chert, and Pethei stromatolites.
Snapshoots from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! I.G. Macintyre et al. (2000): The role of endolithic cyanobacteria in the formation of lithified laminae in Bahamian stromatolites. In PDF, Sedimentology, 47: 915-921.
See also here.
"... microboring destroys original grain textures but, at the same time, plays a constructional role in stromatolite growth by forming lithifed layers of welded grains ..."

Barry Marsh, School of Ocean and Earth Science University of Southampton, UK: Geology Collection. These pages are a virtual collection of geological specimens used for teaching, research and displays. Go to: Fossils, Algae and Stromatoporoids.

S. McMahon et al. (2024): Entophysalis in the Rhynie chert (Lower Devonian, Scotland): implications for cyanobacterial evolution. Free access, Geological Magazine, 160.
"... we report the occurrence of the colony-forming cyanobacterium Eoentophysalis in the Rhynie chert
[...] The Rhynie Eoentophysalis appears remarkably similar in appearance both to modern marine and freshwater Entophysalis ssp. and to Eoentophysalis belcherensis ..."

S. McMahon et al. (2018): A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars. Open access, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 123: 1012–1040.

! K.R. Moore et al. (2022): A review of microbial-environmental interactions recorded in Proterozoic carbonate-hosted chert. Open access, Geobiology.
"... we review the record of biosignatures preserved in peritidal Proterozoic chert and chert-hosting carbonate and discuss this record in the context of experimental and environmental studies that have begun to shed light on the roles that microbes and organic compounds may have played ..."

K.R. Moore et al. (2017): Pyritized Cryogenian Cyanobacteria Fossils From Arctic Alaska. In PDF, Geosciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.

! Palaeobotanical Research Group, Münster, Westfälische Wilhelms University, Münster, Germany: History of Palaeozoic Forests, SILURIAN PLANT FOSSILS. Link list page with rankings and brief explanations. Images of Silurian cryptospores and Parka decipiens. See also:
THE EARLIEST LIFE. Link list page with picture rankings. Images of precambrian microfossils and stromatolites. The links give the most direct connections to pictures available on the web; in many cases they are from sites that have additional palaeobotanical information. See also:
THE EARLIEST LAND PLANTS. Link list page with rankings and brief explanations. Images of Rhynia, Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii, Cooksonia, Cooksonia hemisphaerica, Baragwanathia, Cooksonia pertonii, Aglaophyton major, Lyonophyton rhynienensis, Horneophyton lignieri, Nothia aphylla, Crenaticaulis, Sawdonia, Sawdonia acanthotheca, Sawdonia ornata, Serrulacaulis furcatus, Rebuchia ovata, Zosterophyllum divaricatum, Zosterophyllum rhenanum, Psilophyton, Psilophyton crenulatum, Psilophyton dawsonii, Psilophyton dapsile, Psilophyton ornata, Pertica, Pertica quadrifaria, Asteroxylon, Asteroxylon mackiei. See also:
THE EARLY FORESTS AND THE PROGYMNOSPERMS. Images of Archaeopteris, Tetraxylopteris schmidtii, Callixylon, Archaeopteris gaspensis, Archaeopteris halliana, Archaeopteris hibernica. See also:
EARLIEST SEED PLANTS. Images of Moresnetia, Moresnetia zaleskyi, Elkinsia. Excellent!
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! NASA Astrobiology Institute:
What are Microbial Mats? Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
What are Stromatolites?
See also: Microbial Mats Offer Clues To Life on Early Earth. Worth checking out:
! Life in the Extremes.

! N. Noffke et al. (2022): Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures (MISS). In PDF, Treatise Online, 162. Part B, Volume 2, Chapter 5. See also here.
Note figure 1: Biofilms in classic and modern sedimentology.
Figure 15: Various causes and types of microbially induced wrinkle structures.

! N. Noffke et al. (2013): Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures Recording an Ancient Ecosystem in the ca. 3.48 Billion-Year-Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia. Astrobiology, 13: 1103–1124.

! N. Noffke et al. (2001): Microbially induced sedimentary structures: A new category within the classification of primary sedimentary structures. PDF file. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Geobiology, Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University: Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils.
Now provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! M. Pacton et al. (2015): Organomineralization processes in freshwater stromatolites: A living example from eastern Patagonia. In PDF, The Depositional Record, 1: 130-146.

Pan Terra Inc., Hill City, SD: Early Life on Earth, Stromatolites.

J. Paul and R.V. Burne (2023): The earliest scientific description of stromatolites: Freiesleben and the Zechstein Limestone. In PDF, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften (J. Appl. Reg. Geol.), 173: 251–258.
"... Although it was Kalkowsky (1908) who coined the term “stromatolite”, Freiesleben (1809) and perhaps Hausmann (1805) had described stromatolitic structures a century earlier ..."

Y. Pei et al. (2021): Late Anisian microbe-metazoan build-ups in the Germanic Basin: aftermath of the Permian–Triassic crisis. Open access, Lethaia.

O. Peterffy et al. (2016): Early Jurassic microbial mats - A potential response to reduced biotic activity in the aftermath of the end-Triassic mass extinction event. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. See also here.

A.A. Picard (2016): What do we really know about the role of microorganisms in iron sulfide mineral formation? In PDF, Front. Earth Sci., 4. See also here.

N. Planavsky and R.N. Ginsburg (2009): Taphonomy of Modern Marine Bahamian Microbialites. PALAIOS, 24: 5–17.

S.B. Pruss and D.J. Bottjer (2004): Late Early Triassic microbial reefs of the western United States: a description and model for their deposition in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 211: 127-137.

! P.K. Pufahl and E.E. Hiatt (2012): Oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere–ocean system: a review of physical and chemical sedimentologic responses. In PDF, Marine and Petroleum Geology, 32: 1-20.
See also here.
Note table 1: Geochemical proxies used to understand the Great Oxidation Event.
Figure 1: Seawater chemistry and Earth events as related to the three stages of ocean-atmosphere oxygenation.

E.C. Raff et al. (2008): Embryo fossilization is a biological process mediated by microbial biofilms. In PDF, PNAS, 105.

R.P. Reid et al. (2000): The role of microbes in accretion, lamination and early lithification of modern marine stromatolites. In PDF, Nature.

A. Yu. Rozanov, Paleontological Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia: Bacterial Paleontology.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! J. Schieber (2002): Sedimentary pyrite: A window into the microbial past. In PDF, Geology, 30: 531-534. See also here (abstract).

Jürgen Schieber, Department of Geology, The University of Texas at Arlington: Microbial Mat Page. See also: Microbial Mats in Terrigenous Clastics: The Challenge of Identification in the Rock Record. Abstract, Palaios 14.1, 1999 (via wayback).

! B.E. Schirrmeister et al. (2011): The origin of multicellularity in cyanobacteria. Open access, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11.

Mark A. Schneegurt, Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University: Cyanosite. A webserver for cyanobacterial research.

! J.W. Schopf et al. (2007): Evidence of Archean life: Stromatolites and microfossils. In PDF, Precambrian Research, 158: 141-155.
See also here.

! J.W. Schopf (2006): Fossil evidence of Archaean life. In PDF, Transactions of the Royal Society, B 361: 869–885.

J.W. Schopf, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, the Molecular Biology Institute, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP), University of California, Los Angeles: Cradle of Life: The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Go to: Chapter 1: Darwin's Dilemma, and Chapter 2: Birth of a New Field of Science. Sample chapters, provided by Princetown University Press. Sample chapters actually have been mounted for professors' convenience in evaluating books for class use.
See also: Just pure chemistry? (by Dagmar Röhrlich, Deutschlandfunk). New discussions about the oldest fossils (in German).

! M. Schreiber et al. (2022): The greening ashore. Free access, Trends in Plant Science.
"... Two decisive endosymbiotic events, the emergence of eukaryotes followed by the further incorporation of a photosynthesizing cyanobacterium, laid the foundation for the development of plant life. ..."

SciQuest.com: Geology, Evolution upset: Oxygen-making microbes came last, not first.

E.L. Simpson et al. (2015): Enigmatic spheres from the Upper Triassic Lockatong Formation, Newark Basin of eastern Pennsylvania: evidence for microbial activity in marginal-lacustrine strandline deposits. Abstract, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 95: 521–529.

! R.A. Spicer (1977): The pre-depositional formation of some leaf impressions. PDF file, Palaeontology, 20: 907–912.
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! T.N. Taylor and M. Krings (2005): Fossil microorganisms and land plants: Associations and interactions. PDF file, Symbiosis, 40: 119-135.
This expired link is now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
See also here.

B.L. Teece et al. (2020): Mars Rover Techniques and Lower/Middle Cambrian Microbialites from South Australia: Con.struction, Biofacies, and Biogeochemistry. In PDF, Astrobiology, 20: See also here.

! M.M. Tice and D.R. Lowe (2004): Photosynthetic microbial mats in the 3,416-Myr-old ocean. Abstract, Nature.

K. Thomas et al. (2016): Formation of Kinneyia via shear-induced instabilities in microbial mats. In PDF, Phil. Trans. R. Soc., A 371. See also here.
"Kinneyia are a class of microbially mediated sedimentary fossils. Characterized by clearly defined ripple structures, Kinneyia are generally found in areas that were formally littoral habitats and covered by microbial mats".

! A.M.F. Tomescu et al. (2016): Microbes and the fossil record: selected topics in paleomicrobiology. Abstract, in: Hurst C. (ed.) Their World: A Diversity of Microbial Environments. Advances in Environmental Microbiology, vol 1: 69-169. See also here (in PDF).

! S. Trümper et al. (2018): Deciphering silicification pathways of fossil forests: Case studies from the late Paleozoic of Central Europe. Open access, Minerals, 8.
Note figure 10a (PDF page 15): Cross-cut of a log horizontally embedded in medium-grained sandstones.
Note figure 12b (PDF page 17): Permineralized Agathoxylon-type stem, encrusted completely by a stromatolite.

The Biology Project (an interactive online resource for learning biology), University of Arizona, Tucson: Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, & Viruses Tutorial. The goal of this exercise is to introduce to the kinds of cells that make up all living systems (Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes), and to contrast cells with viruses.

Hugo van den Berg, Department of Theoretical Biology, Faculty of Biology Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Microbial mats.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

! H. Van Gemerden (1993): Microbial mats: a joint venture. In PDF, Marine Geology.

The Virtual Fossil Museum: Stromatolites of America.

Ben Waggoner & Brian Speer, Mineraltown.com: Bacteria: Fossil Record.

Jeff Warner, Fullerton College, Fullerton, California: Domed Cyanobacterial Cabbage-Head Stromatolites. Hoyt Limestone, Late Cambrian; Lester Park, New York.
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! David T. Webb, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu: The Plant Kingdom, Form & Function in Algae & Plants, Cyanophyta - Cyanobacteria. A well illustrated introduction and detailed overview on many aspects of cyanobacter biology.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

West Holidays, Perth, Western Australia: Hamelin Pool. An Australian tourism site about Shark Bay stromatolites.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Microbial mat, and Stromatolite.

Woese CR, Kandler O, & Wheelis ML., Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana: Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya. See also here.

Astrobiology Institute, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Astrobiology Microscope This site has images of bacteria and protists, classification schemes, descriptions of organisms, talks and other educational resources to improve awareness of the biodiversity of microbial life.

Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole: Search results stromatolite.

Shucheng Xie et al. (2011): Cyanobacterial blooms tied to volcanism during the 5 m.y. Permo-Triassic biotic crisis: Reply. In PDF, Geology. See especially:
Shucheng Xie et al. (2010): Cyanobacterial blooms tied to volcanism during the 5 m.y. Permo-Triassic biotic crisis.

! B.N. Zepernick et al. (2023): Climate change and the aquatic continuum: A cyanobacterial comeback story. Free access, Environmental Microbiology Reports, 15: 3-12.
Note figure 1: Diagram showing the interactive environmental controls on CyanoHABs [Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms] along the freshwater-marine continuum.