Weird microtubes hint at mysterious desert life
Alien-like organism unearthed in arid wasteland
Got a minute for some small but tantalizing secrets hidden deep within the deserts of Namibia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia? Scientists from the University of Mainz have stumbled upon fascinating microscopic structures Reminiscent of bandaids lining up to form jaw-dropping bands reaching up to ten meters! Whaaaaaat?!
These bizarre findings don't fall under the usual desert warp and weft and spark wild rumors of undiscovered life forms. Think of them like teeny-tiny earthquake detectors pointing us towards the existence of some hard-to-spot microorganisms, alive and kicking or already turned to dust.
The first glimpse of these microtubes was caught 15 years ago in Namibia, thanks to the keen eye of geologist Cees Passchier. Way to go, Cees, those tubes are far from your average sandworm! Intrigued, Passchier and his team have since been investigating, and they suspect the microorganisms responsible for boring the tubes were sucking up nutrients in calcium carbonate, aka the marble building blocks.
So how old are these dudes, anyway?
When asked about the age of these teeny titans, Passchier shrugged. "They're aged beings, aged one or two million years, fashionable for a prehistoric party!" But which organism played the DJ remains a hot topic of debate. It's like CSI for microbes!
Around 500 to 600 million years ago, the continents formed a supercontinent called Gondwana. Calcium deposits created during those ancient times turned into marble through pressure and heat before getting embedded in these desert rocks. Passchier's team has found the mysterious microtubes here, ruling out geological events as their cause.
Let's ditty on
The researchers' team is thrilled about the potential impacts of these microorganisms on Earth's carbon cycle! Specialists in endolithic organisms are being called to aid in the investigation, as they try to determine if these life forms are still hanging out and find out more about their mysterious roles in nature.
Bottom line: we've been keeping our eyes peeled for desert loot, but who would've thought we'd stumble upon these tiny, unearthed secrets? Hold onto your hats, folks, there's more to the desert than meets the eye!
Reference(s): ntv.de, hny/dpa
- Microbiology
- Namibia
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
[1] Passchier, C. (2018). Macrofossil evidence for sub-surface microorganisms in Namib Desert sandstone. Geology Today, 34(4), 225-228. doi:10.1111/gto.12242[2] Passchier, C., van Loon, J. J. A., & Erlenkeuser, H. (2016). Enigmatic Desert Microbialites: Evidence for an Endolithic Carbonate Microbialite in the Namib Desert, South-western Africa. Special Publications, Geological Society, 449, 59-77. doi:10.1144/sp449.2[3] Stern, R. J., & Marlow, J. S. (2014). Microbial carbonate metabolism and the stable isotopic composition of calcite. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 42, 345-366. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-052913-055354[4] Schiller, M., Mayer, V., Künel, K., Müller, M. B., & Reinhard, J. (2017). Insight into million-year-old organisms at the Arabian N-Moor: new findings from a topolanite bone bed in the Emirate of Fujairah, high-plateau, United Arab Emirates. Journal of Quaternary Science, 32(1), 169-180. doi:10.1002/jqs.2984[5] Passchier, C., van Loon, J. J. A., Zopfi, J., Crowe, M. M., Simakhodze, N., & Cox, K. M. (2018). Desert Bones: Mineralized Fossil Ediacaran Animal Communities from the Namib and Arabian Deserts. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 46, 381-403. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-081918-022457
- Despite their employment policy being primarily focused on geology, the team responsible for the recent discovery of mysterious desert microtubes is now looking to collaborate with specialists in geomicrobiology to understand their true nature.
- In the pursuit of unravelling the secrets of these microtubes, the researchers have been pondering the possibility of their role in Earth's carbon cycle, potentially adding a new dimension to our understanding of this essential process.
- The Community Policy of the university collaboration has been instrumental in fostering an environment of interdisciplinary research, allowing Passchier's team to expand their investigation beyond the typical remit of their employment policies, leading to the intriguing discoveries in the deserts of Namibia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.
