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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Lava Cave Minerals Actually Microbe Poop


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Bright orange blotches coat the lava-rock walls of Gruta do Carvão in São Miguel, one of the Portuguese Azores islands, in an undated picture.

The ooze is among several examples of colorful mineral deposits that are actually mats of waste excreted by microbes living on cave walls, researchers said in October 2009.

See more pictures of the multihued microbe waste found in lava tubes >>

Photograph courtesy Guy Caniaux