Microbial mat


![Wrinkled Kinneyia-type sedimentary structures formed beneath cohesive microbial mats in peritidal zones.[10] The image shows the location, in the Burgsvik beds of Sweden, where the texture was first identified as evidence of a microbial mat.[11]](/uploads/202501/27/Runzelmarken3928.jpg)

A microbial mat is a multi-layered sheet of microorganisms, mainly bacteria and archaea. Microbial mats grow at interfaces between different types of material, mostly on submerged or moist surfaces, but a few survive in deserts. They colonize environments ranging in temperature from –40 °C to 120 °C. A few are found as endosymbionts of animals.