Field Contrast between Rhizoliths and Desert Plants Roots: Biomineralization Occurred only around Artemisia Roots in Alashan Plateau Deserts, China

Background

Rhizoliths are fossils relating to higher plant roots in different strata from Paleoeozoic Era to Holocence. Although a lot of previous rhizoliths studies have been done, little is known on the relationship between the rhizolith formations and modern plant root types and their formation mechanisms remain unclear.

Aims

This paper is to compare rhizoliths with the modern vegetation roots and to determine the plant roots with rhizolith formation in Badain Jaren and Tengeri deserts, the Alashan Plateau, NW China.

Method

Open field detail and intensive comparison were done between the characteristics of rhizoliths and the modern plant roots.

Key Results

The dominant vegetations of the deserts are Artemisia desertorum Spreng, Phragmites australis, Psammochloa villosa (Trin.) Bor and Agriophyllum squarrosum (Linn.) Moq., etc. Carbonate rhizoliths were only found on the soil surfaces of swales between the dunes. They were eroded out due to intensive weathering and erosion or dug out. All plant roots were excavated by digging or eroded out above soil by wind erosion. It is found that no rhizolith is around the live roots of these vegetations; the rhizoliths almost exist in Artemisia shrub sites and keep the original morphological characteristics of Artemisia roots in the most possibility.

Conclusions

The results indicate that carbonate cementing only took place around the deceased Artemisia roots. However, only Artemisia smells aromatic fragrant. Rhizoliths formations are related to not only fossil diagenesis and petrifaction of geology but also biomineralization of physiology and biochemistry of modern phytology.