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Sedimentary black shale-hosted manganese carbonate and oxide ores were studied by high-resolution in situ detailed optical and cathodoluminescence microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy to determine microbial contribution in metallogenesis. This study of the Urucum Mn deposit in Brazil is included as a case study for microbially mediated ore-forming processes. The results were compared and interpreted in a comparative way, and the data were elaborated by a complex, structural hierarchical method. The first syngenetic products of microbial enzymatic oxidation were ferrihydrite and lepidocrocite on the Fe side, and vernadite, todorokite, birnessite, and manganite on the Mn side, formed under obligatory oxic (Mn) and suboxic (Fe) conditions and close to neutral pH. Fe- and Mn-oxidizing bacteria played a basic role in metallogenesis based on microtextural features, bioindicator minerals, and embedded variable organic matter. Trace element content is determined by source of elements and microbial activity. The present Urucum (Brazil), Datangpo (China), and Úrkút (Hungary) deposits are the result of complex diagenetic processes, which include the decomposition and mineralization of cell and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) of Fe and Mn bacteria and cyanobacteria. Heterotrophic cell colonies activated randomly in the microbialite sediment after burial in suboxic neutral/alkaline conditions, forming Mn carbonates and variable cation-bearing oxides side by side with lithification and stabilization of minerals. Deposits of variable geological ages and geographical occurrences show strong similarities and indicate two-step microbial metallogenesis: a primary chemolithoautotrophic, and a diagenetic heterotrophic microbial cycle, influenced strongly by mineralization of cells and EPSs. These processes perform a basic role in controlling major and trace element distribution in sedimentary environments on a global level and place biogeochemical constraints on the element content of natural waters, precipitation of minerals, and water contaminants., (Copyright © 2019 Polgári, Gyollai, Fintor, Horváth, Pál-Molnár and Biondi.)

The research investigated three iron carbonate (siderite) sedimentary concretions from Nagykovácsi, Úri and Délegyháza, Hungary. To identify possible source rocks and effects of the glaze-like exposed surface of the concretions, we carried on comparative petrological, mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic studies. The samples were microbially mediated siderite concretions with embedded metamorphous and igneous mineral clasts, and had specific rim belts characterized by semi-concentric outer Fe-oxide layers, fluffy pyrite-rich outer belts and siderite inner parts. We investigated the cross section of the Fe-carbonate concretions by independent methodologies in order to identify their rim effects. Their surficial oxide layers showed evidence of degassing of the exposed surface caused most probably by elevated temperatures. The inner rim pyrite belt in the concretions excluded the possibility of a prolonged wet surface environment. Microtextural and mineralogical features did not support desert varnish formation. 10 Be nuclide values of the Nagykovácsi and Uri concretions were far above the level of terrestrial in-situ cosmogenic nuclides, but they were consistent with the lowest levels for meteorites. Though the data were not conclusive to confirm any kind of known origin, they are contradictary, and open possibilities for a scenario of terrestrial meteorite origin., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Correlating the Raman and infrared spectra of shocked minerals in Csátalja ordinary chondrite (H4, S2, W2) with controlling the composition by EPMA measurements, we identified and improved various shock indicators, as infrared spectro-microscopic analysis has been poorly used for shock impact alteration studies of meteorites to date. We also provide reference spectra as SOM for the community with local mineralogical and shock alteration related context to support further standardization of the IR ATR based measurements. Raman band positions shifted in conjunction with the increase in full width half maximum (FWHM) with shock stage in olivine minerals while in the infrared spectra when comparing the IR band positions and IR maximal absorbance, increasing correlation was found as a function of increasing shock effects. This is the first observational confirmation with the ATR method of the already expected shock related disordering. In the case of shocked pyroxenes the well-known peak broadening and peak shift was confirmed by Raman method, beyond the level that could have been produced by only chemical changes. With increasing shock level the 852-864cm -1 and 1055-1071cm -1 FTIR bands finally disappeared. From the shock effect occasionally mixed mineral structures formed, especially feldspars together with pyroxene. Feldspars were only present in the shock melted volumes, thus produced by the shock effect itself. Based on the above mentioned observations in Csátalja meteorite the less shocked (only fractured) part witnessed 2-6GPa shock pressure with temperature below 100°C. The moderately shocked parts (minerals with mosaicism and mechanical twins) witnessed 5-10GPa pressure and 900°C temperature. The strongly shocked area (many olivine and pyroxene grains) was subject to 10-15GPa and 1000°C. The existence of broad peak near 510cm -1 and disappearance of other peaks of feldspar at 480 and 570cm -1 indicate the presence of maskelynite, which proposes that the peak shock pressure could reach 20GPa at certain locations. We identified higher shock levels than earlier works in this meteorite and provided examples how heterogeneous the shock effect and level could be at small spatial scale. The provided reference spectra support the future improvement for the standardization of infrared ATR based methods and the understanding of shock-related mineral alterations beyond the optical appearance., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)