Geobiology

the long version

"This book describes microbial mats that occur in sandy marine environments from 3.2 billion years ago to the present. It gives an overview of the growth and development of microbial mats in modern settings, the interaction of microbial mats with physical sediment dynamics, and the formation and preservation of microbially induced sedimentary structures. These structures are much more common than stromatolites, and are abundant throughout Earth history. They constitute a significant archive for the understanding of Earth's earliest environments, and are important as biosignatures in the detection of life on other planets. This book is for sedimentologists, paleontologists, microbiologists, and geobiologists."--BOOK JACKET.