Threads of microbial activity on quasi-anoxic environments: Case studies from Oligocene to Miocene of the Central Paratethys

Microbial activity can be expressed in a wide range of products and forms including boring structures, biofilm-like subproducts, and framboidal pyrite precipitates. Microendolithic structures, in particular, are found in carbonate hardgrounds including tests of planktonic and benthic foraminifera and their traces can provide an extra paleoenvironmental marker of relative paleobathymetry, oxygenation, and environmental stress. Variegated traces of microbial activity including microborings, framboidal pyrite bacterial subproducts, and probable biofilms were herein studied in tests of benthic foraminifera from dysphotic to aphotic, shelf to an upper bathyal hypoxic environment. Collected material is from 6 localities in the Central Paratethys area, the Czech Republic (LOM-1 Mikulov, Hevlín), Slovakia (DNV, LKŠ-1), and Hungary (Rozalia), ranging from Rupelian to Serravalian. Microendolithic morphology was examined from resin casts obtained from the tests resulting in a total of ten ichnospecies and four other forms for which it was only possible to establish affinity on higher ranks. Levels of oxygen depletion were estimated from Benthic Foraminifera Oxygen index (BFOI). The bacterial origin of pyrite was inferred by morphology, grain size, and ẟS³⁴ values. The number of observed microboring structures gradually reduce with the decrease of oxygen content, while the precipitation of framboidal pyrite were increasing at the same time. Biofilm-like structures, apart from the suggestive morphology, also showed an enriched content of elemental iron, sulfur, and phosphorus. Raman spectroscopy shows similarities with organic pigment spectra and is still under investigation.