Creep behavior of microbiotic crust

The creep behavior of microbiotic crust at room temperature was revealed by the creep bending tests of cantilever beam under constant-load conditions. The variation in the deflection with time can be depicted well by a standard creep curve. Creep rupture is a fundamental failure mechanism of microbiotic crust due to creep. A simple theory was then applied to describe this new mechanical behavior. The existence of creep phenomenon brings into question the validity of widely used methods for measuring the strength of microbiotic crust.