Geospatial insights into the controls of microbialite formation at Laguna Negra, Argentina.

Microbialites provide a record of the interaction of microorganisms with their environment constituting a record of microbial life and environments through geologic time. Our capacity to interpret this record is limited by an incomplete understanding of the microbial, geochemical, and physical processes that influence microbialite formation and morphogenesis. The modern system Laguna Negra in Catamarca Province, Argentina contains microbialites in a zone of carbonate precipitation associated with physico-chemical gradients and variable microbial community structure, making it an ideal location to study how these processes interact to drive microbialite formation.

Community Vertical Composition of the Laguna Negra Hypersaline Microbial Mat, Puna Region (Argentinean Andes).

The Altiplano-Puna region is a high-altitude plateau in South America characterized by extreme conditions, including the highest UV incidence on Earth. The Laguna Negra is a hypersaline lake located in the Catamarca Province, northwestern Argentina, where stromatolites and other microbialites are found, and where life is mostly restricted to microbial mats. In this study, a particular microbial mat that covers the shore of the lake was explored, to unravel its layer-by-layer vertical structure in response to the environmental stressors therein.

Ring opening metathesis polymerization on non-covalently functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Norbornene polymerization has been initiated selectively on the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) via a specifically adsorbed pyrene-linked ROMP initiator, resulting in a homogeneous non-covalent poly(norbornene) coating.