Runoff volume and sediment yield from an endorheic watershed generated by rare rainfall events in the Atacama Desert

Alcayaga, Hernán; Soto-Alvarez, Marco; Laronne, Jonathan B.; Caamaño, Diego; Mao, Luca; Urrutia, Roberto

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.108107

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…The later is a consequence of bio-weathering activity which has already been shown for the grit crust (Jung et al, 2020b). In addition, water erosion based on occasional heavy rain events play a crucial role in the Atacama Desert (Alcayaga et al, 2022). As the organisms concatenate the mineral substrate, the grits can create small gutters where excess water runs off, forming a slightly wavy microtopography (Figure 1H).…”

Section: Microalgae Lichens and Fungi Of The Grit Crust As Models For...mentioning

confidence: 82%

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Jung

Lehnert

Bendix

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The grit crust is a recently discovered, novel type of biocrust made of prokaryotic cyanobacteria, eukaryotic green algae, fungi, lichens and other microbes that grow around and within granitoid stone pebbles of about 6 mm diameter in the Coastal Range of the Atacama Desert, Chile. The microbial community is very well adapted towards the extreme conditions of the Atacama Desert, such as the highest irradiation of the planet, strong temperature amplitudes and steep wet-dry cycles. It also has several other striking features making this biocrust unique compared to biocrusts known from other arid biomes on Earth. It has already been shown that the grit crust mediates various bio-weathering activities in its natural habitat. These activities prime soil for higher organisms in a way that can be envisioned as a proxy for general processes shaping even extra-terrestrial landscapes. This mini-review highlights the potential of the grit crust as a model for astrobiology in terms of extra-terrestrial microbial colonization and biotechnological applications that support human colonization of planets.

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Section: Microalgae Lichens and Fungi Of The Grit Crust As Models For...mentioning

confidence: 82%

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Jung

Lehnert

Bendix

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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“…Therefore, the accumulation of P o is dependent both on biological productivity and mineralization processes (Helfenstein et al., 2018; Weihrauch & Opp, 2018), with less clear trends in the specific extreme desert studied here. Likely, these fluctuations in organic P also reflect a certain spatial patchiness of rainfall and life in this hyper‐arid region (Alcayaga et al., 2022; Knief et al., 2020; Merklinger et al., 2020). The intracellular cycling of P by inorganic pyrophosphatase is the most likely reaction to P turnover in the Atacama Desert, and the phosphate released from microbial cells can precipitate as secondary Ca‐P minerals (Helfenstein et al., 2018; Shen et al., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The Paposo area is located within the south-central Coastal Cordillera featuring elevations mostly between 500 and 2500 m a.s.l. The north-south extending mountain range presents an uplifted and eroded Mesozoic magmatic arc, composed largely of Jurassic and Cretaceous igneous rocks (Allmendinger & González, 2010;González et al, 2003;Oliveros et al, 2018;Scheuber & González, 1999). The bedrock lithology at all sample sites along the transect consists almost exclusively of plutonic granitoids (Walk et al, 2023).…”

Section: Study Area and Soil Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fog controls biological cycling of soil phosphorus in the Coastal Cordillera of the Atacama Desert

Sun,

Amelung,

Klumpp

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Soils in hyper‐arid climates, such as the Chilean Atacama Desert, show indications of past and present forms of life despite extreme water limitations. We hypothesize that fog plays a key role in sustaining life. In particular, we assume that fog water is incorporated into soil nutrient cycles, with the inland limit of fog penetration corresponding to the threshold for biological cycling of soil phosphorus (P). We collected topsoil samples (0–10 cm) from each of 54 subsites, including sites in direct adjacency (<10 cm) and in 1 m distance to plants, along an aridity gradient across the Coastal Cordillera. Satellite‐based fog detection revealed that Pacific fog penetrates up to 10 km inland, while inland sites at 10–23 km from the coast rely solely on sporadic rainfall for water supply. To assess biological P cycling we performed sequential P fractionation and determined oxygen isotope of HCl‐extractable inorganic . Total P (Pt) concentration exponentially increased from 336 mg kg−1 to a maximum of 1021 mg kg−1 in inland areas ≥10 km. With increasing distance from the coast, soil values declined exponentially from 16.6‰ to a constant 9.9‰ for locations ≥10 km inland. Biological cycling of HCl‐Pi near the coast reached a maximum of 76%–100%, which could only be explained by the fact that fog water predominately drives biological P cycling. In inland regions, with minimal rainfall (<5 mm) as single water source, only 24 ± 14% of HCl‐Pi was biologically cycled. We conclude that biological P cycling in the hyper‐arid Atacama Desert is not exclusively but mainly mediated by fog, which thus controls apatite dissolution rates and related occurrence and spread of microbial life in this extreme environment.

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“…This is because heavy rain washes away large amounts of loose particles from the loess terraced slopes with low vegetation cover (Fan et al, 2016). Moreover, Alcayaga et al (2022) reported that depressions near the material source area filled up the fastest, which explains why some of the rills were landfilled. The overall topographical undulation trend was that the more depressed, the more sedimentation, which was not caused by local vegetation growth, as this trend was continuous rather than abrupt (Figure 5o–r).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of loess terraced slope erosion using unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry: Topographic and hydrological effects

Kou,

Xu,

Jin

et al. 2024

Land Degrad Dev

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Terraced slopes are widely used in the Loess Plateau to control gully erosion, yet their potential to induce new erosion patterns remains overlooked. Here we used unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry to obtain centimeter‐resolution digital surface models (DSMs) and derived hydrological networks, slopes, aspects, and curvatures of the terraced slopes. Our analysis reveals terraces disrupted natural water pathways, spurring new rill formations during each rainy season—a process neglected by models. Intriguingly, despite gentler gradients, terraced slopes exhibited higher erosion rates than steeper gullies, with widespread rills on terrace ridges. Vegetation‐induced deposition surpassed erosion by 1.52 times, but moisture evaporation on sunny slopes limited plant growth and enhanced erosion. We propose targeted strategies tailored to these erosion mechanisms, including terrace redesign, runoff diversion, slope strengthening, and suitable vegetation, advancing sustainable land management. However, this study faces limitations due to the reliance on drone photogrammetry, which may be influenced by environmental factors like varying solar angles and vegetation growth, and the lack of extensive field validation to support the UAV‐derived data. Our study spotlights drone photogrammetry's potential for elucidating complex erosion dynamics on terraced slopes.

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Runoff volume and sediment yield from an endorheic watershed generated by rare rainfall events in the Atacama Desert

Cited by 13 publications

References 62 publications

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Fog controls biological cycling of soil phosphorus in the Coastal Cordillera of the Atacama Desert

Assessment of loess terraced slope erosion using unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetry: Topographic and hydrological effects

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