 |
Robert L. Folk
Sedimentary Petrology
Ph. D., Pennsylvania State College, 1952
Since I retired from teaching in 1988, my career has done an about-face. Through dumb luck (and a new SEM) I made the initial discovery of mineralized nannobacteria (dwarf bacterial forms) in the carbonate hot springs of Viterbo, near Rome, Italy. This evidence was later used by NASA to propose nannobacterial fossils in the Martian meteorite. The topic still enrages biologists who do not like to be beaten at their own game. For more info, look up the word “nannobacteria” on any computer search engine. Humor courtesy F. Leo Lynch.
Research:
Among
subjects under continuing study are:
Mineralogy
and Nannobiology of hot springs – mainly in Italy of course where the
cuisine is great.
The
role of nannobacteria in creating carbonate rocks, from ooids to
caliches.
Desultory
work on cherts, opals, sulfides of iron and other metals, and metal
oxides. Why is Mars red? Nannobacterial oxidation of iron – need you ask?
Continuing
study with F. L. Lynch on nannobacterial precipitation of clay minerals.
Yes, they plug oil reservoirs and Austin pipes.
Nannobacteria
in Martian meteorites (I’ve now studied two examples, thanks to L. A.
Taylor) and in Carbonaceous chondrites.
Yes, there was life out in space.
Weathering
of igneous rocks by nannobacteria under a variety of conditions,
tropical humid (Tahiti), desert (West Texas), and Alpine (Lombardia,
Italia).
The
probable role of nannobacteria in human disease: kidneystones,
arthritis, cataracts and (with Brenda Kirkland and several others
including researchers at the Mayo Clinic) even on heart disease and
arterial plaque.
The
bottom line is: All these
occurrences look virtually identical.
If some of them are not nannobacteria, scientists will need to
find out what they really are.