Mechanism of water extraction from gypsum rock by desert ...
Apr 29, 2020· Here we report the mechanism by which gypsum rocks from the Atacama Desert, Chile, provide water for its colonizing microorganisms. We show that the microorganisms can extract water of crystallization (, structurally ordered) from the rock, inducing a phase transformation from gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) to anhydrite (CaSO4).