• realChem@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, cryptobiotic crust! I’ve seen it in the Sonoran desert. It doesn’t look like much, I think if I hadn’t been warned ahead of time not to step on it I might have just done it without thinking. Given that just footprints can take on the order of decades to heal I think a dune buggy ban makes sense in areas where it grows.

    I’m still surprised to learn about the microbes in the Atacama: it’s the driest place on earth, and I would have expected the salt deposits to make it even harder for anything to live there. Yknow what they say I guess: “Life, uh, finds a way.”

    • athos77@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      cryptobiotic crust

      Yeah, that’s it! I couldn’t remember the details, and cba to search for them. Thanks!