Cave Geomicrobiology in India: Status and Prospects

  • Sushmitha Baskar
  • Ramanathan Baskar
  • Vinod Chandra Tewari
  • Ingunn H. Thorseth
  • Lise Øvreås
  • Natuschka M. Lee
  • Joyanto Routh
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology book series (COLE, volume 18)

Abstract

The subsurface of the Earth is one of the major habitats and contains a significant proportion of microbial life (Whitman et al., 1998; Ghiorse, 2008; Roussel et al., 2008). However, our overall knowledge about the life forms and biogeochemical processes contained within it is rather scarce, mainly because of the difficulties in approaching this habitat. One relatively easy way to approach this habitat is to investigate karst terrains, which expand over ∼20% of the Earth’s subsurface (Ford and Williams, 2007). Since caves are one of the most prominent features of karst terrain, they may serve as noteworthy entries and virtual “windows” into subsurface habitats (e.g. Engel et al., 2008). It is widely recognized that caves can also host a wide spectrum of fascinating life forms, starting from biofilms harbouring different types of microorganisms to different types of cave-dwelling animals such as snails, worms, spiders, leeches, crickets, cockroaches, scorpions, fishes and bats. Cave geobiology is therefore a fascinating discipline for exploring different basic aspects of the subsurface eco-systems and their interactions with the eco-systems of the surface. Cave geomicrobiology deals specifically with the microorganisms, other life forms and their interactions with minerals and provides us with information about the past geomicrobiological interactions.

Keywords

Cave geomicrobiology Microorganism Stromatolites Stable isotopes Carbonate deposition Sahastradhara Mawsmai Meghalaya India 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Dr. D.D.S. Sandhu (Vice-Chancellor, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar) is thanked for support and encouragement. SB and RB thank Centre for Geobiology, Norwegian Centre of Excellence, University of Bergen, Norway for invitation as academic guests and SB thanks the Research Council of Norway for financial support. RB thanks UGC for major research project. V.C. Tewari is thankful to Dr. B.R. Arora, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun for facilities and permission to publish the paper. The reviewers are thanked for their comments and suggestions that helped to improve this article.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sushmitha Baskar
    • 1
    • 7
  • Ramanathan Baskar
    • 1
    • 7
  • Vinod Chandra Tewari
    • 2
  • Ingunn H. Thorseth
    • 1
    • 3
  • Lise Øvreås
    • 1
    • 4
  • Natuschka M. Lee
    • 5
  • Joyanto Routh
    • 6
  1. 1.Centre for GeobiologyUniversity of BergenBergenNorway
  2. 2.Wadia Institute of Himalayan GeologyDehradunIndia
  3. 3.Department of Earth ScienceUniversity of BergenBergenNorway
  4. 4.Department of BiologyUniversity of BergenBergenNorway
  5. 5.Department of MicrobiologyTechnische Universität MünchenFreisingGermany
  6. 6.Department of Geology and GeochemistryStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
  7. 7.Department of Environmental Science and EngineeringGuru Jambheshwar University of Science and TechnologyHisarIndia

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