Soil-like bodies of autochemolithotrophic ecosystems in the caves of the Kugitangtau Ridge, eastern Turkmenistan

Abstract

Ecosystems, in which the role of primary producers is played not by the photosynthetically active plants, but by the autochemolithotrophic microorganisms utilizing the chemical energy instead of the solar energy, have been described in the caves of eastern Turkmenistan. The zones of contact and interaction between the microorganisms and the mineral substrate perform the regulative, structuring, and bioaccumulative functions of surface soils. These zones have a vertically anisotropic profile forming in situ. Their functional and structural specificity makes it possible to consider them as bio-abiotic natural soil-like bodies and to apply the methods of pedology for their study.