title: Proterozoic stromatolitic microbiotas of the 1400-1500 Ma-old Gaoyuzhuang formation near Jixian, northern China.
abstract: Two communities of diverse, well-preserved, fossil prokaryotic microorganisms have been discovered in petrographic thin sections of carbonaceous black chert from the ca. 1400-1500 Ma-old Gaoyuzhuang Formation at the stratotype section of the "Sinian Suberathem" near Jixian, northern China.  One of these communities is preserved in bedded, essentially flat-laminated, stromatolitic chert; the other occurs in silicified conical stromatolites of the forms Conophyton cylindricum and C. garganicum.  The Gaoyuzhuang cherts comprise one of the new microfossiliferous deposits now known from the Precambrian of China; the permineralized microbiotas they contain are among the first such stromatolitic assemblages to be discovered in the Sinian stratotype section.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles 90024, USA.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Schopf
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei-Qing
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao-Liang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jen
mesh_terms: D002254:Carbonates / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010163:Paleontology
chemical_list: D002254:Carbonates