Microbe-created Dripstones Influenced Life On Earth and Other Planets, Study Shows
Paula Marie Navarra | | Aug 19, 2014 09:37 PM EDT |
Scientists have found microscopic organisms that create dripstones in caves show how biological life can influence the geology of Earth and other planets.
Previous research claims dripstones were created by geological and geochemical process with no influence from living organisms.
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Now researchers are debunking this because of the dripstones they found in the Tjuv-Antes cave in Sweden.
The dripstones show microbes could have been responsible for the formation of this geological feature, researchers claim.
Researchers found the microbes didn't just live on the surface of the dripstone. The microbes also actively contributed to its formation.
Researchers found out that microbes tend to be most active in spring and summer. During these seasons, rain drips down through the soil and into the cave.
The drops of water give nutrients to the microbes, which excrete calcium that precipitates and help in the dripstone formation.
Researchers said that without this microbial activity, there wouldn't be dripstones or the dripstones would be smaller.
Magnus Ivarsson from the Nordic Center for Earth Evolution said if microbes can be responsible for dripstone formation on Earth, the same things might be happening in other planets.
Mars is known for a number of caves with dripstones created by microbes. This finding can attest to that, researchers claim.
"If I were a microbe I would definitely live in a cave on Mars," Ivarsson said.
Researchers also believe that through the study of cave microbes, they can also find about how microbes affect human health.
Ivaarson explained that people usually go to "artificial caves" like trains stations where living conditions are the same as naturally created caves.
There is a need for health professionals to know about the microbes lurking in these artificial caves, he stressed.
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