New approaches to studying the microbial precipitation of carbonate minerals

Quantum leaps in scientific understanding often result from new investigati ve techniques. For example, the use of nucleic acids as biomarkers has led to a mini-revolution in microbial ecology, allowing microorganisms to be st udied in their natural environment without cultivation, a procedure that of ten yielded a small, unrepresentative fraction of the community. In this ov erview, we discuss how nucleic acid based methods, together with new micros copic techniques and more traditional approaches, could be used to elucidat e the roles played by microorganisms in encouraging the precipitation of ca rbonate minerals. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.