Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and Raman (and Fluorescence) Spectroscopic Imagery of Permineralized Cambrian and Neoproterozoic Fossils
Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and Raman (and Fluorescence) Spectroscopic Imagery of Permineralized Cambrian and Neoproterozoic Fossils
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DOI：
10.1007/978-94-007-0680-4_10
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Kudryavtsev, Anatoliy B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Schopf, J. William;Kudryavtsev, Anatoliy B.
在研究过矿化（石化）化石（化石记录中保存的最像生命的残余物）所面临的所有问题中，有两个突出的问题，需要（1）准确记录其三维形态，（2）直接分析其化学成分及其嵌入矿物基质。这些问题可以有效地解决使用最近引入到古生物学的两种技术：共聚焦激光扫描显微镜（CLSM），和拉曼（和荧光）光谱成像。这两种技术，这是非侵入性和非破坏性的，可以提供的数据来表征，在原位和亚微米分辨率，薄切片嵌入有机壁化石的细胞和有机体形态。这些技术是互补的：CLSM检测由碳质干酪根发出的激光诱导荧光，而拉曼和荧光光谱图像提供了直接分析这种干酪根及其嵌入矿物基质的分子结构组成，并提供了一种手段来定量评估保存的有机物的地球化学成熟度。本文通过对四个早寒武世和新元古代晚期单位的化石研究说明了这些技术在古生物学上的有用性：（1）寒武纪最低层的栉水母（2）鳞片化石（Chilodictyon），产于加拿大育空地区Lower Tindir群，距今约750 Ma;（3）疑源类和蓝细菌，来自与哈萨克斯坦南部775年前的Chichkan组相似的地层;（4）蓝细菌，来自与澳大利亚中部800年前的Bitter Springs组相似的地层。利用这些技术研究过矿化化石可以提供高空间分辨率的三维信息，包括其形态和细胞解剖、埋藏学和保存保真度、组成和保存模式，并表明它们既属于原生的，也与它们所在的岩石形成同生。
Among all problems confronting the study of permineralized (petrified) fossils-the most life-like remnants preserved in the fossil record-two stand out, the need for (I) accurate documentation of their three-dimensional morphology, and (2) direct analysis of their chemical composition and that of their embedding mineral matrix. These problems can be addressed effectively by the use of two techniques recently introduced to paleontology: confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and Raman (and fluorescence) spectroscopic imagery. Both of these techniques, which are non-intrusive and non-destructive, can provide data by which to characterize, in situ and at submicron resolution, the cellular and organismal morphology of thin section-embedded organic-walled fossils. The techniques are complementary: CLSM detects laser-induced fluorescence emitted from the carbonaceous kerogen of which such fossils are composed, whereas Raman and fluorescence spectroscopic imagery provide direct analyses of the molecular-structural composition of such kerogen and its embedding mineral matrix as well as providing a means to assess quantitatively the geochemical maturity of the preserved organics. The paleontological usefulness of these techniques is illustrated here by studies of fossils from four Early Cambrian and late Neoproterozoic units: (1) a lowermost Cambrian ctenophore ("comb jelly") embryo from the Kuanchuanpu Formation of Shaanxi Province, China; (2) scale fossils (Chilodictyon) from the similar to 750-Ma-old Lower Tindir Group of Yukon Territory, Canada; (3) acritarchs and cyanobacteria from the similar to 775-Ma-old Chichkan Formation of southern Kazakhstan; and (4) cyanobacteria from the similar to 800-Ma-old Bitter Springs Formation of central Australia. Use of these techniques for studies of permineralized fossils can provide information in three dimensions at high spatial resolution about their morphology and cellular anatomy, taphonomy and fidelity of preservation, composition and mode of preservation, and show that they are both indigenous to and syngenetic with the formation of the rocks in which they occur.