"Possible Microfossils" from the Archaean Banded Iron Formation (Bailadila Group), Madhya Pradesh, India

SEM studies have recorded presence of filamentous and unicellular spheroidal structures which are regarded as "possible microfossils", from the stromatolitic Archaean (ca. 3.0 Ga old) banded iron formation (BIF), Bailadila Group. Spheroidal bodies have diameters that range from 0.5 to 6.9 microns. The frequency of forms with smaller diameters is greater than those with the diameter above 3.0μm. The filamentous structures range from less than 100 nanometres to 1.2μm in diameter. Syngenetic nature of these microfossils has been established. Though a large number of these microfossils could be identified in the SEM, they could not be observed in petrographic thin sections under optical microscope most probably because of their association with, and being clouded by, opaque haematite.