Gypsum and Halite Deposition on Cyanobacteria and Algae in Salt‐Affected Soils.

Soil surface communities are different from those of bulk soil due to the development of photo‐ synthetic communities comprising cyanobacteria, algae, and other bacteria which contribute to the formation of biological soil crusts. The structure of ecological niches forming biological crusts in saline soil environments is characterized by communities dominated by extremophiles organisms like archea, halophilic bacteria and cyanobacteria that can have a direct or indirect role in shaping soil properties. For example gypsum and halite were found by some authors as‐ sociated with the cyanobacterium Entophysalis (Braithwaite and Whitton, 1987); moreover the crystallization of gypsum and halite a…