Bioweathering related to groundwater circulation in cavities of magmatic rock massifs

Runoff flows not only on magmatic rocks massifs surface but also through their internal discontinuities, which define the secondary permeability of the rock. The effects, especially erosive, of the water movement on surface are well known although it is not the same with the effects of water infiltr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental earth sciences 2015-03, Vol.73 (6), p.2997-3010
Main Authors: Vidal-Romaní, Juan Ramón, González-López, Laura, Vaqueiro, Marcos, Sanjurjo-Sánchez, Jorge
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biogeosciences
Biological
Deposition
Dry season
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Environmental Science and Engineering
Geochemistry
Geology
Groundwater
Gypsum mines
Hydrology/Water Resources
Infiltration
Interstitials
Magma
Massifs
metagenomics
Microorganisms
Organisms
permeability
Rock
Rocks
runoff
Sediment load
sediments
seepage
silicon
Stores
Terrestrial Pollution
Thematic Issue
Water resources
Weather
weathering
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Runoff flows not only on magmatic rocks massifs surface but also through their internal discontinuities, which define the secondary permeability of the rock. The effects, especially erosive, of the water movement on surface are well known although it is not the same with the effects of water infiltration through the rock. Especially, when it does so at low speed (trickles or seepage) granular disaggregation of the rock is produced at small scale, associated with a specific type of sediment (speleothems) of clast-supported open fabric which is able to store very small volumes of interstitial water, becoming a specific subterraneous microenvironment where some organisms develop their biological cycle totally or partially. Some products derived from the metabolic activity of these organisms incorporated to the infiltration water increase their ability to attack (weathering and dissolution) the rock. This process ends during the dry season when the troglobiont organisms die and the water-transported load, either dragged or in solution (mainly silicon), is sedimented forming the speleothems. The study of these deposits using several techniques, mineralogical, sedimentological, and biological (including metagenomics), indicates an influence of microorganisms on the formation of these deposits; therefore, it is correct to consider them as biospeleothems.
ISSN:1866-6280
1866-6299
DOI:10.1007/s12665-014-3743-2