CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop

CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
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CAVE PICTURES: Mineral Crusts, Ooze Found to Be Poop
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Butterscotch-colored ooze covers rock formations in Gruta Malha, a cave in the Portuguese Azores islands, as seen in June 2008. The ooze is produced by microbial colonies that excrete the minerals.

"Caves [are] a unique environment where we think that [minerals solidifying out of liquids] and microbial growth are enhanced by stable physical and chemical conditions," said Datta, of Kansas State University.

Although it's unlikely anything is alive there now, lave tubes found on Mars might be some of the best places to look for similar signs of past life, Datta said.
—Photograph courtesy Kenneth Ingham
 

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