Mike Tice

Postdoctoral Scholar in Geobiology

mtice@gps.caltech.edu

My primary research interests are in Archean biogeochemistry and microbial and environmental evolution. In collaboration with Dianne Newman and John Grotzinger, I am currently growing experimental microbial mats in order to develop mechanistic models of sedimentary microbial behavior useful for interpreting the fossil record of Archean life. Previous (doctoral) work with Don Lowe at Stanford University focused on field, petrographic, and geochemical analysis of Early Archean carbonaceous cherts. Our results point to the existence of a completely anaerobic ecosystem dominated by anoxygenic photosynthetic primary producers on an open marine platform 3.42 billion years ago. In the future, I plan to build a research program combining field and laboratory analysis of Archean chemically and biologically dominated sedimentary rocks with microbiological experiments designed to aid interpretation of what I find in the geologic record.

Publications

Dietrich, Lars E.P., M.M. Tice, and D.K. Newman. (2006) Coevolution of life and Earth. Current Biology 16(11):R395–R400.

Tice, Michael M. and D.R. Lowe. (2006) The origin of carbonaceous matter in pre-3.0 Ga greenstone terrains: a review and new evidence from the 3.42 Ga Buck Reef Chert. Earth-Science Reviews 76(3):259–300.

Hren, Michael T., D.R. Lowe, M.M. Tice, G.R. Byerly, and C.P. Chamberlain. (2006) Stable isotopic and rare earth elemental evidence for recent ironstone pods within the Archean-aged Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70(6):1457–1470.

Tice, Michael M. and D.R. Lowe. (2006) Hydrogen-based carbon fixation in the earliest-known photosynthetic organisms. Geology 34(1):37–40.

Tice, Michael M. and D.R. Lowe. (2004) Photosynthetic microbial mats in the 3,416-Myr-old ocean. Nature 431(7008):549-552.

Lowe, Donald R. and M.M. Tice. (2004) Geologic evidence for Archean atmospheric and climatic evolution: Fluctuating levels of CO2, CH4, and O2 with an overriding tectonic control. Geology 32(6):493-496.

Tice, Michael M., B.C. Bostick and D.R. Lowe. (2004) Thermal history of the 3.5-3.2 Ga Onverwacht and Fig Tree Groups, Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa, inferred by Raman microspectroscopy of carbonaceous material. Geology 32(1):37-40.

 

CV

 

Last update: 15 January 2007