Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Via Mangiagalli 34, I-20133, Milan, Italy

The pellicles are 0.5–3 mm thick and dark greenish-grey in colour. They foliate into very small (<1 mm) undulating and anastomosing microlaminae entrapping abundant biogenic and inorganic particles. The amorphous organic matter of the pellicles is most probably produced by bacterial masses linked to mineralization processes of the organic debris. Anaerobic sulphate-reducing bacteria (Desulphovibrio) are abundant and the presence of methane bacteria is likely.

Detailed analyses with the light microscope and scanning electron microscope yielded differences and similarities concerning ultrastructure, content, abundance and morphotypes of the bacterial pellicles from the Bannock area and the Western Strabo Trench. A consistently well-developed ultrastructure comprising thin microlaminae characterizes the Bannock pellicles, whereas the ultrastructure of the Tyro and Poseidon pellicles is usually not organized. Siliceous microfossils are abundant in samples from both sites, but centrate diatoms prevail in the Bannock pellicles whereas pennate diatoms are overwhelmingly dominant in the Tyro and Poseidon pellicles. Calcareous micro- and nannofossils, together with pyrite framboids, are more abundant in samples from the Bannock area. Bacteria are extremely abundant in samples from the Bannock area and three different morphological types have been distinguished. Only one type of bacteria was commonly observed in pellicles from the Western Strabo Trench basins.

Pellicles form at the normal seawater/brine interface, as substantiated by transmittance profiles and bacteriological investigations. Therefore, the term “deep mid-water bacterial mats” is proposed herein for these peculiar layers.

After bacterial mats grow at the interface, they are included within the sediments by following one of two different paths: (a) when pelagic sedimentation prevails, pellicles sink to the basin floor due to the increasing load of biogenic and inorganic detritus, and (b) under a tectonically active regime, turbidity currents and slumps can disrupt the interface and destroy the floating mats. In the latter case, fragments of pellicles are transported to the bottom within the gravity flows.