Alkaliphiles are microbes, including some bacteria and archaea, which thrive in highly alkaline environments, such as soda lakes and carbonate-rich soils, where the pH values range from about 9 to 11. Alkaliphiles maintain a mildly alkaline intracellular pH of about 8 amid surroundings of much higher pH by continuously pumping hydrogen ions across their cell membranes into their cytoplasm. Compare with acidophiles.