The Iberian Pyrite Belt in southwest Spain hosts some of the largest and diverse extreme acidic environments with textural variation across rapidly changing biogeochemical gradients at multiple scales. After almost three decades of studies, mostly focused on molecular evolution and metagenomics, there is an increasing awareness of the multidisciplinary potential of these types of settings, especially for astrobiology. Since modern automatized exploration on extraterrestrial surfaces is essentially based on the morphological recognition of biosignatures, a macroscopic characterization of such sedimentary extreme environments and how they look is crucial to identify life properties, but it is a perspective that most molecular approaches frequently miss. Although acid mine drainage (AMD) systems are toxic and contaminated, they offer at the same time the bioengineering tools for natural remediation strategies. This work presents a biosedimentological characterization of the clastic iron stromatolites in the Tintillo river. They occur as laminated terraced iron formations that are the most distinctive sedimentary facies at the Tintillo river, which is polluted by AMD. Iron stromatolites originate from fluvial abiotic factors that interact with biological zonation. The authigenic precipitation of schwertmannite and jarosite results from microbial–mineral interactions between mineral and organic matrices. The Tintillo iron stromatolites are composed of bacterial filaments and diatoms as Nitzschia aurariae, Pinnularia aljustrelica, Stauroneis kriegeri, and Fragilaria sp. Furthermore, the active biosorption and bioleaching of sulfur are suggested by the black and white coloration of microbial filaments inside stromatolites. AMD systems are hazardous due to physical, chemical, and biological agents, but they also provide biogeochemical sources with which to infer past geochemical conditions on Earth and inform exploration efforts on extraterrestrial surfaces in the future.

中文翻译：

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酸性矿山排水作为形成铁叠层石的激发微生物生态位：西班牙西南部的廷蒂罗河

西班牙西南部的伊比利亚黄铁矿带拥有一些最大和多样化的极端酸性环境，在多个尺度上具有快速变化的生物地球化学梯度的结构变化。经过近三年的研究，主要集中在分子进化和宏基因组学上，人们越来越意识到这些类型环境的多学科潜力，尤其是天体生物学。由于对地外表面的现代自动化探索基本上基于生物特征的形态识别，因此对此类沉积极端环境及其外观的宏观表征对于识别生命特性至关重要，但这是大多数分子方法经常遗漏的观点。尽管酸性矿山排水 (AMD) 系统有毒且受污染，它们同时为自然修复策略提供了生物工程工具。这项工作展示了廷蒂洛河中碎屑铁叠层石的生物沉积学特征。它们以叠层梯田铁层的形式出现，是廷蒂罗河最独特的沉积相，被 AMD 污染。铁叠层石来源于与生物分带相互作用的河流非生物因素。施沃特曼铁矿和黄钾铁矾的自生沉淀是矿物和有机基质之间微生物-矿物相互作用的结果。Tintillo铁叠层石由细菌丝和硅藻组成 它们以叠层梯田铁层的形式出现，是廷蒂罗河最独特的沉积相，被 AMD 污染。铁叠层石来源于与生物分带相互作用的河流非生物因素。施沃特曼铁矿和黄钾铁矾的自生沉淀是矿物和有机基质之间微生物-矿物相互作用的结果。Tintillo铁叠层石由细菌丝和硅藻组成 它们以叠层梯田铁层的形式出现，是廷蒂罗河最独特的沉积相，被 AMD 污染。铁叠层石来源于与生物分带相互作用的河流非生物因素。施沃特曼铁矿和黄钾铁矾的自生沉淀是矿物和有机基质之间微生物-矿物相互作用的结果。Tintillo铁叠层石由细菌丝和硅藻组成菱形aurariae，Pinnularia aljustrelica，Stauroneis kriegeri和脆SP。此外，叠层石内微生物细丝的黑色和白色着色表明硫的活性生物吸附和生物浸出。由于物理、化学和生物因素，AMD 系统是危险的，但它们也提供生物地球化学来源，用于推断地球上过去的地球化学条件，并为未来的外星表面探索工作提供信息。