Algal Mat Structure

They are a type of biofilm that is large enough to see with the naked eye and robust enough to survive moderate physical stresses.

Algal mat structure. Dense algal mat in lake oporzynskie occupied the whole water column in shallow basins such as in eutrophic non tidal lagoons where the mat thickness was 1 5 m lenzi et al 2011. Algal mat a sheet like accumulation of blue green algae cyanobacteria developed in shallow marine subtidal to supratidal environments as well as in lakes and swamps. Algal mats are one of many types of microbial mat that forms on the surface of water or rocks. An outer layer of extremely loose spreading filaments was only found by ltsem leading to the conclusion that some collapse of the mat structure occurred during dehydration for ambient sem.

The algae cover the sediment surface and will in turn trap sediment to produce a laminated alternation of dark organic rich algal layers and organic poor sediment layers. Formation occurs when alternating layers of blue green bacteria and sediments are deposited or grow in place creating dark laminated layers. These colonies of bacteria form on surfaces at many types of interface for example between water and the sediment or rock at the bottom between air and rock or sediment between soil and bed. The mats shared a similar structure consisting of a compact lower zone of prostrate filaments and an upper zone of loose vertical filaments.

The hydrodynamic environment will vary as algal growth waxes and wanes and the physiognomy of the algal mat changes reiter 1989. Microbial mats may also be referred to as algal mats and bacterial mats.