Living Rocks in Connecticut River Headwaters: Ferromanganese Stromatolites

Fossil microbialites abound from the Archean Eon (>3.5 x 102 years before present) until the Holocene and provide a major source of information about early life on Earth; living examples available to study are rare. Such structures are known from both marine and lacustrine environments world-wide and are composed of microbially-mediated deposition of iron and manganese oxide minerals. We discovered ferromanganese nodules with stromatolitic growth patterns in the western near-shore portion of Second Connecticut Lake, New Hampshire, United States. One of the three headwater lakes of the Connecticut River that extends from the United States/Canadian border to Long Island Sound, Second Connecticut Lake is located in the northern woods region of New Hampshire and covers an area of 5,204 km2. These three lakes were formed during the retreat of the Laurentide Ice sheet nearly 12,000 years ago, following the Last Glacial Maximum. The ferromanganese nodules found in Second Connecticut Lake form irregular but concentric rings around a central "nucleus" such as a pebble or cobble. Although similar structures are described in freshwater systems (e.g. Lake Oneida, New York and Lake Vermillion, Minnesota) the others lack the variety of morphologies, range of size distribution and continuous pavement coverage of those in the Second Connecticut Lake; and none has been reported from any of the six New England States. The most conspicuous and abundant of the four distinct morphotypes are a convex plate-like structure that forms concentric rings around a central nucleus such as a stone. They are supplemented by pavement-type, lattice-type, and tiny (<2 cm) variously shaped nodule structures. Comparable freshwater structures range from 5 to 20 cm in diameter whereas our individual nodules measure up to 43 cm and cover an area of 9.8 km2. Thus, these Second Connecticut Lake structures represent the most extensive living fresh water nodule deposit reported.