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Growth rate observation from the moss-built Checa travertine terrace, central Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Ruud Weijermars ,
Carla W. Mulder-Blanken  and
Jaap Wiegers
Ruud Weijermars
Affiliation:
Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Institute of Geology, University of Uppsala, Box 555, S-75122 Uppsala, Sweden
Carla W. Mulder-Blanken
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, University of Amsterdam, 130 Nieuwe Prinsengracht, NL-1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jaap Wiegers
Affiliation:
Hugo de Vries-Laboratory, University of Amsterdam, 221 Sarphatistraat, NL-1018 BX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Abstract

In situ observations of fossil and living specimens of the calcicolous mosses Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Cratoneuron commutatum and Catoscopium nigritum revealed very fast calcite depositional rates. Rhythmic layering in the fossil mosses corresponding with the seasonal climatic cycle suggests that the moss curtain occupied by these three mosses maintains the deposition of spongeous travertine layers at a mean rate of 4 cm a−1. A mean depositional rate of 4.2 cm a−1 may be calculated from measurements of the loss of bicarbonate from the springwater after it percolated through the moss curtain. These rates suggest that the 8 m high travertine terrace of Checa with a surface area of 800 m2 did not exist two millennia ago.

Mosses could be put to man's use for creating natural overgrowths on artificial surfaces, an idea based on an allusion by Wallner. He observed that the thread-forming, blue-green algae Vaucheria builds travertine deposits at an annual rate of 0.7–1.4 cm. We observed that the mosses Cratoneuron commutatum and Bryum pseudotriquetrum may form spongeous travertine layers at respective maximum rates of 11 and 14 cm a−1. This would reduce the time required to build natural overgrowths on artificial objects to a practical period of months.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 123 , Issue 3 , May 1986 , pp. 279 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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