Lithobiotic communities on the surface of rock art monuments of the Minusinsk kotlovina (South Siberia): formation conditions, biomineral interactions
K. V. SAZANOVA1,2, D. Yu. VLASOV1,3, M. S. ZELENSKAYA3, E. G. PANOVA3, O. A. RODINA3,4, E. A. MIKLASHEVICH5,6
1Botanical Institute named after V. L. Komarov RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia
2St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
3Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
4Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute named after ON. Avrorina of the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Apatity, Russia
5Institute of Archeology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia
6Kuzbass Museum-Reserve “Tomskaya Pisanitsa”, Kemerovo, Russia
Keywords: Biolayers, petroglyphs, biodeterioration, micromycetes, biomineral crusts, rock art, Minusinsk Basin
Abstract
Various types of biomineral layers have been identified and characterized at the rock art sites of the Minusinsk Basin. On the surface of sandstone, on which images were applied in ancient times, cyanobacterial biofilms, biofouling dominated by lichens, mosses, primary soils develop, and are also formed by mineral crusts, to a greater or lesser extent inhabited by microorganisms. Cyanobacterial biofilms formed by Gloeocapsopsis magma are the dominant form of biolayers on open rock surfaces exposed to intense insolation. The most intense development of microorganisms was noted on light-colored calcite-containing crusts with a porous surface. Gypsum crusts are poor in organic matter content and are practically not colonized by microorganisms. By itself, the growth of gypsum crusts leads to serious damage to the surface layer of the stone and can be one of the main processes leading to the loss of the rock art.
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