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Mysterious South American mounds formed by earthworms

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Packed, evenly-distributed mounds can be found dotting large areas of Columbia and Venezuela, and a new study indicates these piles, known as surales, are mostly comprised of earthworm casts, or loads of muddy soil thrown out by their guts.

Published in the journal PLOS One, the new study made use of remote sensing means, satellite pictures and aerial photos captured by a drone to examine the landscape. The study team also compiled information on the physical and chemical makeup of soil to learn more around how surales form and develop. This data revealed earthworm casts make up as much as one-half of overall soil mass of surales, which vary in size from 2 to 16 feet across and from 1 foot to over 6 feet high.

Surales develop when large earthworms feed in mildly-flooded soils, putting casts down that grow into small ‘towers’ that reach above the water level. Each earthworm comes back over and over again to the same location to feed, place casts and to respire. As time passes, the small tower becomes a mound.

Credit: Professor José Iriarte

When piles already established are situated close together, the sink between them becomes packed and the mounds join together.

“This exciting discovery allows us to map and understand how these massive landscapes were formed,” said study author José Iriarte, an archeologist from the University of Exeter. “The fact we know they were created by earthworms across the seasonally flooded savannahs of South America will certainly change how we think about human verses naturally-built landscapes in the region.”

Surales are created by large earthworms, but the biggest earthworms on Earth aren’t located in South America. According to a study published back in January, the largest earthworms on Earth are located on Scotland’s Isle of Rum.

The study found worms on the island can weigh up to 12.7 grams and measure nearly 15 inches long, more than three times the average weight and length of earthworms in the nearby United Kingdom. The study team said the size of the worms could be due to the lack of predators and the richness of the soil.

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Image credit: Professor José Iriarte

The post Mysterious South American mounds formed by earthworms appeared first on Redorbit.

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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113414039/mound-mystery-solved-051116/


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