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Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences
Rates Of Diagenesis Of Tropical Insectivorous Bat Guano Accumulations: Implications For Potential Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg
Rates Of Diagenesis Of Tropical Insectivorous Bat Guano Accumulations: Implications For Potential Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg
International Journal of Speleology
Cave guano deposits are increasingly being recognized as valuable repositories of paleo-climatic and paleo-environmental information. However, that value is constrained by rates of guano decomposition, and these rates have not been previously well-studied. Here we show that field and laboratory studies of deep insectivorous bat guano sequences in the caves of Borneo demonstrate the extreme dependence of decomposition rate on guano water content. Under tropical conditions, moist guanos exhibit decomposition coefficients (k) values of ~ 0.01, implying the loss of most of the organic content on decadal timescales. Under similar temperatures but drier conditions, k values drop to …
Guano-Related Phosphate-Rich Minerals In European Caves, Philippe Audra, Jo De Waele, Ilham Bentaleb, Alica Chroňáková, Václav Krištůfek, Ilenia M. D'Angeli, Cristina Carbone, Giuliana Madonia, Marco Vattano, Giovanna Scopelliti, Didier Cailhol, Nathalie Vanara, Marjan Temovski, Jean-Yves Bigot, Jean-Claude Nobécourt, Ermanno Galli, Fernando Rull, Aurelio Sanz-Arranz
Guano-Related Phosphate-Rich Minerals In European Caves, Philippe Audra, Jo De Waele, Ilham Bentaleb, Alica Chroňáková, Václav Krištůfek, Ilenia M. D'Angeli, Cristina Carbone, Giuliana Madonia, Marco Vattano, Giovanna Scopelliti, Didier Cailhol, Nathalie Vanara, Marjan Temovski, Jean-Yves Bigot, Jean-Claude Nobécourt, Ermanno Galli, Fernando Rull, Aurelio Sanz-Arranz
International Journal of Speleology
Guano is a typical deposit found in caves derived from the excretions of bats and in minor cases of birds. These organic deposits decompose and form a series of acid fluids and gases that can interact with the minerals, sediments, and rocks present in the cave. Over sixty phosphates are known and described from caves, but guano decay also often leads to the formation of nitrates and sulfates. In this study twenty-two European caves were investigated for their guano-related secondary minerals. Using various analytical techniques, seventeen phosphates, along with one sulfate (gypsum), were recognized as secondary products of guano decay. …
Old And Recent Processes In A Warm And Humid Desert Hypogene Cave: ‘A’Rak Na‘Asane, Israel, Amos Frumkin, Shlomi Aharon, Uri Davidovich, Boaz Langford, Yoav Negev, Micka Ullman, Anton Vaks, Shemesh Ya‘Aran, Boaz Zissu
Old And Recent Processes In A Warm And Humid Desert Hypogene Cave: ‘A’Rak Na‘Asane, Israel, Amos Frumkin, Shlomi Aharon, Uri Davidovich, Boaz Langford, Yoav Negev, Micka Ullman, Anton Vaks, Shemesh Ya‘Aran, Boaz Zissu
International Journal of Speleology
Recent environmental processes are studied in ʻA’rak Naʻasane Cave at the northern Judean Desert, Israel. The outer zone of the cave is heavily influenced by the outside environment through a large entrance, facilitating entry of air flow, fauna and humans, with minor cave-forming modifications. Conversely, the inner cave sustains humid and warm conditions, favoring modifications by condensation corrosion of convective air flow, associated with deposition of popcorn speleothems at the lower parts of dissolution pockets. The warm humid air of the inner cave may be associated with an underlying thermal water table. Active condensation corrosion is decreasing, possibly because of …
Bat Urea-Derived Minerals In Arid Environment. First Identification Of Allantoin, C4H6N4O3, In Kahf Kharrat Najem Cave, United Arab Emirates, Philippe Audra, Pavel Bosák, Fernando Gázquez, Didier Cailhol, Roman Skála, Lenka Lisá, Šárka Jonášová, Amos Frumkin, Martin Knez, Tadej Slabe, Nadja Zupan Hajna, Asma Al-Farraj
Bat Urea-Derived Minerals In Arid Environment. First Identification Of Allantoin, C4H6N4O3, In Kahf Kharrat Najem Cave, United Arab Emirates, Philippe Audra, Pavel Bosák, Fernando Gázquez, Didier Cailhol, Roman Skála, Lenka Lisá, Šárka Jonášová, Amos Frumkin, Martin Knez, Tadej Slabe, Nadja Zupan Hajna, Asma Al-Farraj
International Journal of Speleology
Kahf Kharrat Najem Cave is a small cave in United Arab Emirates (UAE) that hosts a bat colony which is the source of guano deposits and peculiar centimeter-long yellowish stalactites. The mineralogy and geochemistry of these deposits were analyzed using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic microanalysis (EDX), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and stable isotope composition (δ13C and δ15N). Urea CO(NH2)2 was found to be the main compound of these stalactites, while allantoin C4H6N4O3 was found to be an accessory urea byproduct. This paper …
Microscopic Fungi Isolated From The Domica Cave System (Slovak Karst National Park, Slovakia). A Review, Alena Nováková
Microscopic Fungi Isolated From The Domica Cave System (Slovak Karst National Park, Slovakia). A Review, Alena Nováková
International Journal of Speleology
A broad spectrum, total of 195 microfungal taxa, were isolated from various cave substrates (cave air, cave sediments, bat droppings and/or guano, earthworm casts, isopods and diplopods faeces, mammalian dung, cadavers, vermiculations, insect bodies, plant material, etc.) from the cave system of the Domica Cave (Slovak Karst National Park, Slovakia) using dilution, direct and gravity settling culture plate methods and several isolation media. Penicillium glandicola, Trichoderma polysporum, Oidiodendron cerealis, Mucor spp., Talaromyces flavus and species of the genus Doratomyces were isolated frequently during our study. Estimated microfungal species diversity was compared with literature records from the same …
Guanophilic Fungi In Three Caves Of Southwestern Puerto Rico, Ángel M. Nieves-Rivera, Carlos J. Santos-Flores, Frank M. Dugan, Thomas E. Miller
Guanophilic Fungi In Three Caves Of Southwestern Puerto Rico, Ángel M. Nieves-Rivera, Carlos J. Santos-Flores, Frank M. Dugan, Thomas E. Miller
International Journal of Speleology
Fifty species of guanophilic (bat guano-loving) fungi were isolated from field-collected samples within three caves in southwestern Puerto Rico; most were mitosporic fungi (23 species). The caves studied were Cueva La Tuna (Cabo Rojo), Cueva de Malano (Sistema de Los Chorros, San Germán), and Cueva Viento (El Convento Cave-Spring System, Guayanilla-Peñuelas). The most conspicuous fungus by far was the zygomycete Circinella umbellata (Mucorales). Circinella umbellata dominated the bat guano incubation chambers (Petri dishes lined with sterile filter paper moistened with sterile water) at ambient laboratory conditions. Nineteen species of basidiomycetes (e.g., Ganoderma cf. resinaceum, Geastrum cf. minimum, Lepiota …