Fig. 1: Microbial mats and their environment on Little Ambergris Cay.
From: Non-lithifying microbial ecosystem dissolves peritidal lime sand
a Caicos platform and its location in the southeastern Bahamian archipelago (inset). Satellite imagery from Google Earth40. b Little Ambergris Cay drone orthomosaic19 marked with core, pond, and tidal bay porewater sampling locations. White contours mark the maximum tide level derived from tide monitoring stations and a photogrammetric digital elevation model19, simplified to remove local bias from mangrove canopies above intertidal surfaces. c Aerial view southeast over interior basin rimmed by eolian grainstone ridge at the eastern end of Little Ambergris Cay. d Shallowest subtidal smooth mats on the edge of a tidal creek. e Intertidal polygonal mats. f Supratidal and upper intertidal blister mats with cerithid gastropods. Scales in top panels of d–f are 15 cm.
