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| Astrobio.net, Moonrise over Mono Lake |
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| 09/23/10 |
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| Astrobiology Magazine Image of the Day
South Tufa, Mono Lake, California
September 22, 201
Wednesday night was the full moon, so Astrobiology’s field research editor, Henry Bortman, headed for Mono Lake’s most frequently photographed spot, South Tufa, to capture the moment. The white dot below and to the right of the moon is Jupiter.
In the foreground are calcium carbonate formations known as tufas, for which Mono Lake is famous. Tufas form when freshwater springs containing calcium bubble up from below the lakebed and mix with the high concentration of carbonate dissolved in the lake water. The light on the tufas in this photo is not moonlight, but rather alpenglow reflecting off the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada range (not shown), behind the photographer.
Mono Lake holds interest for astrobiologists because it is an extreme environment. The high levels of chemicals, such as arsenic, in its water, are toxic to many organisms. No fish, for example, can survive there. But scientists have found microbes there that, in some cases, not only have developed novel detoxification strategies, but have also found ways to use arsenic as a form of cellular fuel.
Credit: Henry Bortman |
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