Ever since Kalkowsky created a term of stromatolite in 1908,research on stromatolites has continuously been expanded from different methodological perspectives;a century later stromatolites con-tinue to be actively investigated to document the early history of life on Earth.Stromatolites provide an indi-rect and complex evidence of early life on Earth,and today they represent a diversifying signature of life activities in which much of the modern research is focusing.More enchantingly,modern stromatolites that are marked by the composition diversity not only does demonstrate that cyanobacterial mats are constructing stromatolites but also reflect that the translation from cyanobacterial mats to stromatolites is not a direct process.These typical examples reflecting the composition diversity of constructing stromatolites are:(1 ) large conical stromatolites that are made up of muddy sediments in Lake Untersee,Antarctica;(2) sili-ceous stromatolites that are formed in thermal lake at Frying Pan Lake in North Island of New Zealand as well as at the Yellowstone National Park in USA;(3) carbonate stromatolites in Bahamas,Rio de Janei-ro in Brazil and Shark Bay of Australia.Because of both that stromatolites continue to be a puzzling and crucial piece in the map of life and that whether cyanobacterial mats may be the potential morphological precursors for ancient stromatolites is a continue debating problem,the composition diversity of modern stromatolites becomes a key and window for the further understanding of the formation of ancient stromato-lites.On basis of lots researching fruits by many scientists,tracing these fruitful and starting researches on the composition diversity of modern stromatolites that could delegate rich and sophisticate information of sedimentation and microbial metabolism are meaningful to further understanding the sedimentilogical fea-ture and the biological nature of stromalites;moreover,this work can enrich the researching content of mat sedimentology and broaden the studying domain of facies analysis.%自从 Kalkowsky 在1908年构筑了叠层石的术语之后，叠层石一直是地质学家采用不同方法研究和思考的主题，而且一直被当作证明地球早期生命历史的代表物而得到深入调查。叠层石确实为地球早期生命历史提供了间接而且复杂的证据，所以，现代叠层石确实代表着明显的生物信号而成为研究的焦点。最为引人注目的是，现代叠层石的多样化构成，确实表明了蓝细菌生物席建造了叠层石，而且进一步表明了微生物席转化成叠层石不是一个直接的作用过程。那些反映现代叠层石多样化构成的典型实例包括：（1）南极 Untersee 地区的湖泊相锥状泥质叠层石；（2）新西兰 North 群岛被称为煎锅湖的热水湖泊中以及美国黄石国家公园热泉中的硅质叠层石；（3）巴哈马台地、澳大利亚鲨鱼湾以及巴西东南部海湾碳酸盐沉积物构成的叠层石。由于蓝细菌微生物席是否代表了古代叠层石的形态学前体总是存在争议，而且在生命的图像中叠层石一直是一个迷惑的关键片段，因此，现代叠层石的多样化构成，将成为认识古代叠层石形成的关键和窗口。立足于前人的研究成果，追踪和总结现代叠层石的多样化构成，以及它们所代表的沉积作用和微生物新陈代谢活动丰富而复杂的信息，将不但丰富微生物沉积学的研究内容，还将拓宽沉积相分析的基本内容，对深入了解叠层石复杂的沉积学特征和生物学属性具有重要的科学意义。
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