They also provide new clues for understanding the evolutionary history of maize in hyperarid conditions.
Ale Vidal Elgueta, Luis Felipe Hinojosa, María Fernanda Pérez, Gioconda Peralta, MauricioUribe Rodríguez 2019, 'Genetic and phenotypic diversity in 2000 years old maize (Zea mays L.) samples fromthe Tarapacá region, Atacama Desert, Chile', PLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.0210369. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
These often-rare minerals have formed in this region due to the very extreme hyperarid and salt-rich environment.
Jo De Waele, Cristina Carbone, Laura Sanna, Marco Vattano, Ermanno Galli, FrancescoSauro, Paolo Forti 2017, 'Secondary minerals from salt caves in the Atacama Desert (Chile): a hyperarid andhypersaline environment with potential analogies to the Martian subsurface', International Journal of Speleologyhttp://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol46/iss1/7/. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The predominantly hyperarid conditions help to preserve the traces of episodic climatic and/or slow tectonic change.
Benedikt Ritter, Finlay M. Stuart, Steven A. Binnie, Axel Gerdes, Volker Wennrich,Tibor J. Dunai 2018, 'Neogene fluvial landscape evolution in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert',Scientific Reportshttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1038/s41598-018-32339-9. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Here we present the first metatranscriptomic survey of microbial community function in a low water activity hyperarid desert soil.
Carlos León-Sobrino, Jean-Baptiste Ramond, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Don A. Cowan 2019, 'Nutrient Acquisition, Rather Than Stress Response Over Diel Cycles, Drives MicrobialTranscription in a Hyper-Arid Namib Desert Soil', Frontiers in Microbiologyhttps://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01054/full. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)