Can You Fall Through the Earth’s Desert Crust?
A: You people. When you go hiking, don’t you ever stop and look around at stuff? Like the ground?
Cryptobiotic soil crust found in Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. Sept. 6, 2010. Author Nihonjoe.
OK, in many areas the desert is covered with a thin layer of rocks or stuff, and it’s easy to get your car stuck when the wheels break through that shell and spin in the sand underneath.
But what I think your husband is talking about is the desert’s cryptobiotic crust, which is common in desert areas.
The cryptobiotic crust is made up of soil particles bound together by organic materials like bacteria, really tiny fungi, algae, mosses and lichens and things of that nature. It is very important and very delicate stuff, which is why you’re supposed to stay on the trails when you hike and not just go gallivanting off where you feel like going.
The cryptobiotic crust reduces erosion, helps hold water in the soil and also fixes nitrogen and carbon out of the atmosphere and adds them to the soil.
So keep your eyes open, stay on the trail and don’t thrash so much
So, what you are saying is you can’t fall through the desert’s crust? Lol. I had never heard of the cryptobiotic crust though, that is very interesting and good to know. I have always been an off the beaten path hiker, but after learning that I can upset the balance of nature, i’ll stick to the trails from no on!