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The Role of Lichens in Inhibiting Erosion of a Soluble Rock

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2007

Derek Mottershead  and
Gerald Lucas
Derek Mottershead
Affiliation:
School of Education, Community and Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Henry Cotton Campus, 15-21 Webster Street, Liverpool, L3 2ET, UK.
Gerald Lucas
Affiliation:
Edge Hill College of Higher Education, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 4QP, UK.
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Abstract

Soluble rocks undergo erosion by solution when rain falls on an unprotected rock surface. Lichens may act to protect the surface from such erosion, and the protected area may subsequently emerge from the surrounding lowering surface to form an area of higher relief. Specimens of Aspicilia calcarea and Diploschistes diacapsis act in this way on a gypsum surface, creating conical or rounded mounds up to 15 mm in height. In the case of Aspicilia, the lichen centre decays, re-exposing to surface solution the central area, which then corrodes to create a cratered gypsum cone. The gradient of the cone side-slopes is a function of the relative rates of lichen radial growth and rock surface lowering.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Lichenologist , Volume 32 , Issue 6 , November 2000 , pp. 601 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © British Lichen Society 2000

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