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Crystallographic methods are used to identify the primary mineral phase of pseudomorphs of crystals embedded in 3.48 Ga bedded carbonate-chert rocks from the Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Australia. This identification provides valuable information on the chemical environments at the onset of life on Earth., Crystallography has a long history of providing knowledge and methods for applications in other disciplines. The identification of minerals using X-ray diffraction is one of the most important contributions of crystallography to earth sciences. However, when the crystal itself has been dissolved, replaced or deeply modified during the geological history of the rocks, diffraction information is not available. Instead, the morphology of the crystal cast provides the only crystallographic information on the original mineral phase and the environment of crystal growth. This article reports an investigation of crystal pseudomorphs and crystal casts found in a carbonate-chert facies from the 3.48 Ga-old Dresser Formation (Pilbara Craton, Australia), considered to host some of the oldest remnants of life. A combination of X-ray microtomography, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and crystallographic methods has been used to reveal the original phases of these Archean pseudomorphs. It is found with a high degree of confidence that the original crystals forming in Archean times were hollow aragonite, the high-temperature polymorphs of calcium carbonate, rather than other possible alternatives such as gypsum (CaSO4·2H20) and nahcolite (NaHCO3). The methodology used is described in detail.

Globally, salmon populations are under pressure and in those where numbers are severely depleted, density independent factors such as the accumulation of fine sediment and subsequent mortality of incubating embryos are critical factors in their conservation. Although progress has been made in identifying the processes by which fine sediment can lead to embryo mortality, this has focussed on the physical blockage of gravel pores. This paper presents new knowledge on the role of sediment-associated organic matter in controlling the supply of dissolved oxygen to incubating salmon embryos within gravel river beds. We report a new approach to the measurement of sediment oxygen demand (SOD) from interstitial sediments accumulated within salmon redds and demonstrate this across a range of salmon river types. The effects of varying SOD on dissolved oxygen supply to incubating salmon embryos are quantified for the first time, using the physically based Sediment Intrusion and Dissolved Oxygen (SIDO-UK) model. The results reveal the importance of the mass of accumulating sediment and sediment consumption rates (sediment oxygen consumption [SOC]), which constitute the overall SOD over time for a particular sediment sample. Higher SOC result in reductions in dissolved oxygen that are deleterious to salmonids; however, these are subordinate to the effects of sediment mass. Larger quantities of sediment accumulating within the redd not only create a higher SOD but also physically block the pores within the gravels, leading to a more drastic decline in oxygen supply through the combined effects of reduced seepage velocity and dissolved oxygen concentration. We seek to generalize the results by exploring the influence of catchment characteristics on field measures of SOD and SOC. This work makes a significant and novel contribution to improving our fundamental understanding of hyporheic processes within salmonid spawning gravels whilst providing resource managers with evidence of the deleterious effects of sediment-associated organic matter on salmon recruitment.