Figure 2
From: Evidence for signatures of ancient microbial life in paleosols
NMDS plot based on a Bray–Curtis distance matrix visualizing the differences in microbial community composition between samples with increasing age. The arrows were projected on the plot to visualize the impact of the three most significant parameters according to Envfit analysis, and contour lines were added to document the soil age in kyr. Squares show modern soil samples, while triangles indicate paleosols. Color code combines information about the degree of soil development (loess, weak, moderate and strong development) and climatic conditions: Light green color indicates the modern soil rich in organic matter; brown color indicates moderately developed horizons of synsedimentary paleosols formed under semiarid climatic conditions; yellow color indicates weakly developed synsedimentary paleosol horizons formed under arid to semiarid conditions; white color indicates loess horizons with nearly no pedogenic alteration under arid conditions; blue color indicates formation of postsedimentary paleosols during more humid climatic conditions.
