Understanding the origin and evolution of life on Earth and potentially other planets in our solar system is of fundamental interest for humanity. For the longest time in Earth's history, life evolved in microbial communities. It is, however, still incompletely understood how, when and where such habitable environments formed and how microbial communities adopted to the drastic changes of the atmosphere-hydrosphere-lithosphere systems through deep time.

Stromatolites, i.e., lithified microbial mats that occur in sedimentary successions from at least 3.4 billion years ago until today, hold the geochemical key to our understanding of the evolution of microbial life on Earth and may also provide a blueprint for planetary studies. This review targets the potential and pitfalls of emerging and established isotope applications to stromatolites based on improved and newly developed analytical and technical capabilities in the last decades. We provide a comprehensive overview of present data and the interpretation of applications of radiogenic (UPb, RbSr, SmNd) and stable (O, C-N-S, Fe, Mo, Cr, U, Cd) isotope systems in stromatolites. Although the behaviour and fractionation processes of different isotope systems in stromatolites and microbial mats are incompletely understood, the different isotope proxies are used to better understand and reconstruct microbial habitats in stromatolite-forming environments through deep time. Primarily, radiogenic isotopes are used to directly date stromatolites and determine the source of elements in ancient stromatolite environments, while stable isotopes are used to understand redox conditions, metal availability, and (biogenic) metal cycling processes in microbial habitats. We provide deep insights into each isotope application in stromatolites and show their unique potential and future perspectives to bridge the gap between geochemistry and microbiology and to better understand the evolution of microbial life on Earth and beyond.

理解地球上以及我们太阳系中其他行星的生命起源和进化对人类来说具有根本的意义。在地球历史上最长的时间内，生命在微生物群落中进化。然而，人们仍不完全了解这种宜居环境的形成方式，时间和地点，以及微生物群落如何通过深层时间适应大气-水圈-岩石圈系统的急剧变化。

至少在34亿年前直到今天，间质岩（即在沉积演替中出现的片状微生物垫）是我们理解地球上微生物生命演化的地球化学关键，也可能为行星研究提供蓝图。这项审查的目标是，在过去几十年中，基于改进和新开发的分析和技术能力，将新的和成熟的同位素应用到叠层石中的潜力和陷阱。我们提供当前数据的全面概述以及对放射源（U Pb，Rb Sr，SmNd）和层云岩中稳定的（O，CNS，Fe，Mo，Cr，U，Cd）同位素系统。尽管对层间陨石和微生物垫中不同同位素系统的行为和分馏过程尚未完全了解，但不同的同位素代表可用于更好地了解和重建层间陨石形成环境中的微生物栖息地。首先，放射性同位素被用来直接标定叠层石的年代，并确定古代叠层石环境中元素的来源，而稳定的同位素被用来了解微生物栖息地中的氧化还原条件，金属的可利用性以及（生物的）金属循环过程。