Movile Cave
43°49′32″N 28°33′38″E / 43.825694°N 28.560556°E
Movile Cave | |
---|---|
Romanian: Peștera Movile | |
Location | Near Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania |
Coordinates | 43°49′32″N 28°33′38″E / 43.825694°N 28.560556°E |
Discovery | 1986 |
Entrances | 1 (artificial) |
Hazards | Hypoxic atmosphere, with dangerous levels of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia |
Features | Naturally sealed cave containing unique ecosystem supported by chemosynthesis |
Movile Cave (Romanian: Peștera Movile) is a cave near Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania discovered in 1986 by Cristian Lascu a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast.[1] It is notable for its unique groundwater ecosystem abundant in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, but low in oxygen. Life in the cave has been separated from the outside for the past 5.5 million years and it is based completely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.[1]
Similar caves where life partly or fully depends on chemosynthesis have been found in
Description
Movile Cave is a network of paths[dubious ] in limestone that are approximately 200 metres (660 ft) long,[citation needed] with portions that are partially or fully submerged by hydrothermal waters. The temperature of the air and water is a constant 21°C (70°F) and the relative humidity is about 100%.[4] Access to the cave is limited to a few researchers per year, to minimize external impact on the delicate ecosystem.[5]
Chemical environment
The air in the cave is very different from the outer atmosphere. The level of oxygen is only a third to half of the concentration found in open air (7–10% O2 in the cave atmosphere, compared to 21% O2 in air), and about one hundred times more carbon dioxide (2–3.5% CO2 in the cave atmosphere, versus 0.04% CO2 in air). It also contains 1–2% methane (CH4) and both the air and waters of the cave contain high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3).[6] The water in the lake only contains dissolved oxygen for the first centimeter, at most, and in some places only the first millimeter. Deeper down the lake water becomes completely anoxic.[7]
Biology
The cave is known to contain 57 animal species,[8][9] among them leeches, spiders, pseudoscorpions,[10] woodlice,[11] a centipede,[12] a
Of these, 37 are endemic.[8][9] TheAccess
The cave is closed to the general public and only a few researchers are permitted inside each year, in order to minimize disturbance to the fragile ecosystem.[5]
See also
- Ophel biome , proposed worldwide biome supporting similar ecosystems
- Hydrothermal vent microbial communities
- Subterranean fauna
- Troglofauna, small animals living in caves
- Stygofauna, fauna living in groundwater and aquifers
References
General references
- Jean Balthazar: Grenzen unseres Wissens. Orbis Verlag, München 2003, Seite 268, ISBN 3-572-01370-4.
- Sarbu, Serban M.; Kane, Thomas C.; Kinkle, Brian K. (28 June 1996). "A Chemoautotrophically Based Cave Ecosystem". Science. 272 (5270): 1953–1955. S2CID 23842700.
- Wischer, Daniela; Kumaresan, Deepak; Johnston, Antonia; El Khawand, Myriam; Stephenson, Jason; Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Alexandra M; Chen, Yin; Colin Murrell, J (January 2015). "Bacterial metabolism of methylated amines and identification of novel methylotrophs in Movile Cave". The ISME Journal. 9 (1): 195–206. PMID 25050523.
Inline citations
- ^ a b c Fox-Skelly, Jasmin (4 September 2015). "The bizarre beasts living in Romania's poison cave". BBC Earth.
- ^ Sârbu, Şerban M. "The fascinating biology of stinky caves", - ARPHA Conference Abstracts, 25th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cluj-Napoca, 18-22 July 2022. Re-accessed 23 March 2024.
- ^ Chiciudean, I., Russo, G., Bogdan, D.F. et al. "Competition-cooperation in the chemoautotrophic ecosystem of Movile Cave: first metagenomic approach on sediments." Environmental Microbiome 17, 44 (2022). Permanent doi
.org /10 .1186 /s40793-022-00438-w . Re-accessed 23 March 2024. - S2CID 84472119. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Movile Cave". GESS LAB, Mangalia. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- S2CID 84472119.
- ^ The Chemoautotrophically Based Movile Cave Groundwater Ecosystem, a Hotspot of Subterranean Biodiversity
- ^ a b GESS Lab. (2020). Movile Cave - a unique ecosystem. Gesslab. https://www.gesslab.org/movile-cave
- ^ a b GESS Lab. (2020a). List of invertebrate species encountered and described in the Movile Cave ecosystem. https://fecc112f-3776-4476-a602-1572b7478186.filesusr.com/ugd/1e4de5_ebb50699a75848bbb0c3f12a65da4c5d.pdf
- ^ a b Nag, Oishimaya Sen (25 April 2017). "Movile Cave - An Oddity Of Romania". WorldAtlas.
- ^ Karen Graham: Movile Cave in Romania has an ecosystem unlike any other on Earth. In: DigitalJournal. 25 May 2016. Source: Science
- ^
- Varpu Vahtera, Pavel Stoev, Nesrine Akkari: Five million years in the darkness: A new troglomorphic species of Cryptops Leach, 1814 (Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha) from Movile Cave, Romania. On: ZooKeys 1004: pp 1-26. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1004.58537 (16 December 2020). See also:
- David Nield: Meet The 'King' of a Toxic Underground Ecosystem Unlike Anywhere Else on Earth. On: sciencealert. 19 December 2020. About Cryptops speleorex, the cave dwelling sister species of C. hortensis, Cryptopidae
- New Centipede Discovered on Top of Food Chain in Hellish Ecosystem of a Sulfur-Soaked Romanian Cave. On: SciTechDaily. December 16, 2020
- ^ .
- ^ a b Andrzej Falniowski, Magdalena Szarowska, Ioan Sirbu, Alexandra Hillebrand, Mihai Baciu: Heleobia dobrogica (Grossu & Negrea, 1989)(Gastropoda: Rissooidea: Cochliopidae) and the estimated time of its isolation in a continental analogue of hydrothermal vents. In: Molluscan Research 28(3): pp 165-170. 22 Dec 2008. ISSN 1323-5818
- ^ "Microbial food webs in Movile Cave". UK Research and Innovation.
External links
- The Movile Cave Project in the Internet Archive
- La Grotte de Movile (fr.) in the Internet Archive
- Life in Hell – Survivors of Darkness by Mona Lisa Production, France