Abstract
Morgana Cave is located inVal di Scerscen, Central Italian Alps. The cave opens at an altitude of 2,600 m a.s.l. close to the retreating glacierVedretto di Scerscen, and its entrance was discovered 30 years ago hidden underneath the glacier. A characteristic of this cave is the occurrence of vermiculation deposits on the walls and ceiling. In general, the composition of the microbial communities in cave vermiculations is relatively unknown and rarely investigated. Here we present the data of a geomicrobiological study of vermiculations from an Alpine cave subjected to extreme climate conditions. The microbial communities were dominated by 13 main phyla ofBacteria, and contained a negligible percentage (<1%) ofArchaea. The two major bacterial classes wereGammaproteobacteriaandBetaproteobacteria, whose metabolic traits were mainly associated with the nitrogen cycle. In addition, psychrophilic and methanotrophic bacterial groups were identified. The occurrence of a large number of uncultured members, at the lowest taxonomic ranks, indicated the presence of still unexplored microbial taxa in the vermiculations.
Highlights
Global warming is causing a rapid glacial retreat
Most of the microbial features observed in samples M1, M3, M4, M5, and M6 resemble the enigmatic reticulated filaments reported in caves worldwide (Melim et al, 2008; Miller et al, 2012), which are long tubular filaments with peculiar surface ornamentation (Miller et al, 2012; Melim et al, 2015)
These long filaments (
Summary
Global warming is causing a rapid glacial retreat. The total glacier-covered surface area in the Alps decreased from an estimated 4,500 km around 1850 to around 2,200 km in 2001, 1,800 km in 2010 (Haeberli et al, 2013) and 1,650 km in 2015 (Sommer et al, 2020).The glacier Vedretta di Scerscen is located in Val di Scerscen, Central Italian Alps (Northern Lombardy), in the scenic setting of Valmalenco (Figures 1A,G). The glacier retreat has uncovered a few caves, the most important of which, opening at about 2,600 m a.s.l., are: Veronica Cave (638 m long), Morgana Cave (770 m), and Tana dei Marsooi (77 m). These caves represent very interesting systems from both pure geological-geomorphological and microbiological standpoints (De Waele et al, 2014). Morgana Cave was hidden underneath the rapidly retreating glacier until the end of the last century (Figure 1B). At the sampling time (July 17th, 2017) the entrance of the cave was open, but there was still snow around and above the cave. The cave had very low temperatures, slightly above 0°C, with freezing occurring close to the entrance, and rather stable conditions occurring deeper into the cave (reaching 2°C 50 m inward)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
