This $180,000 National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship will support Dr. Kelsey Moore's research and education activities at Johns Hopkins University from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2025. The goal is to better understand localized pyrite formation and taphonomic bias in the fossil record through a combination of experimental taphonomy with modern microbes and analysis of pyritized fossil assemblages from the Neoproterozoic Ikiahpuk Formation.
Specifically, Dr. Moore will conduct experiments to test the contribution of organosulfates—sulfur-rich organic compounds produced by some microbes in response to environmental stress—to localized pyritization. This could provide insight into how the microbial biosphere coped with environmental changes following the Sturtian glaciation and the role microbes may have played in their own fossilization. Analysis of the Ikiahpuk Formation fossils and their unique pyrite preservation could support or refute the hypothesis that organosulfates influenced sulfur cycling and iron sulfide nucleation during the fossilization process. Results from this NSF-funded research under the $50M Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) aim to advance understanding of ancient microbial communities, global biosphere evolution, and interpretation of pyritized fossil assemblages in deep time.