Geomicrobiology of microbial ecosystems from the Lake Thetis microbialites, Western Australia: A laboratory for astrobiological research

The focus project of this research project was to take a geomicrobiological (=interaction between microbes and minerals) approach to studying living and sub-fossil microbialites of extreme environment as the hypersaline Lake Thetis, Western Australia. The Lake Thetis is a hypersaline ephemeral lake dominated by living microbialite. Although modern microbialite ecosystems contain some elements that were not present in the Precambrian, they can provide models for the study and better understanding of the complex interactions between (bio-)minerals and microbes, microbial ecosystems and the environment, and microbial fossilization processes.