Microbial mats, the yellow and reddish brown deposits formed from the mine drainage, occur on the bottom of drain and mine tailing pond of the Ilkwang mine in Pusan, Korea. The constituents of microbial mats and their biomineralization were studied by using XRD, IR, and SEM-EDX. The upper part of the microbial mat is yellow-colored and composed of tube-shaped and small spheroid bacterial materials, which are mainly made up of amorphous and poor-crystalline iron-oxide minerals. The shape and composition of bacterial materials suggest that they are probably belong to iron-oxide mineral aggregates. The iron-oxide minerals of the yellow microbial mats are mainly goethite, but those of the reddish brown microbial mats contain abundant hematite along with goethite. This implies that with the evolution of biomats, goethite may be transformed to hematite.

• 안윤희
• 황진연
• 김근수