Ever since the term stromatolith was first coined by Kalkowsky in 1908, research studies on stromatolites have continued for more than a century. This article reviews the study history of living and fossil stromatotelites. The history is divided into two parts by the discovery in 1961 by Logan of living stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia, because this determined the subsequent main trend of studies on both living and fossil stromatolites. Major contributions during the last three decades include documentation of (1) a worldwide bloom of stromatolites in Proterozoic low-middle lateral shallow seas, and (2) oxygen-producing cyanobacterial activity related to stromatolites from the 1990s, resulting in various new aspects being clarified, which include in-vitro cultivation gradually revealing cyanobacterial calcification and dome-formation. Future studies will be directed towards reconciling morphological disparities and formation mechanisms among fossil, living, and cultured stromatolites.
