Bioapatite represents an important acquisition in the evolution of life, both in the seas and on land. Vertebrates applied calcium-phosphate biominerals to grow their skeletal support and to shape their teeth, while some invertebrates sheltered their soft parts within apatite shells. Conodonts were the first among vertebrates to experiment with skeletal biomineralization of tooth-like elements in their feeding apparatus. Spanning a time record of over 300 million years, they offer a unique tool to test possible variation in bioapatite structure from the experimentation of a very primitive biomineralization type to a more evolute pattern just before going extinct. X-ray microdiffraction carried out through an X-ray micro-diffractometer, integrated with environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with chemical microanalyses (ESEM-EDX), has been applied in this study to investigate conodont element crystal structure throughout the entire stratigraphic range of these organisms. In particular, bioapatite crystallographic cell parameters have been calculated for about one hundred conodont elements ranging from the late Cambrian to the Late Triassic. Resulting data clearly indicate two distinct distribution plots of cell parameters for paraconodonts and euconodonts. In contrast, age, taxonomy, geographic provenance and CAI do not affect the dimension of the bioapatite crystal cells. Conodont bioapatite crystallographic cell parameters have been compared with cell parameters resulting from phosphatic/phosphatized material (ostracodes, brachiopods, bryozoans, and fish teeth) present in the same residues producing conodonts. Resulting values of the cell parameters are, in general, mainly correlated with the type of organisms even if, for some of them, a correlation also with age cannot be completely ruled out. According to our data, primary bioapatite appears to imprint a key signature on fossil crystal-chemistry (crystal structure and major chemical element contents), while the contribution of fossilization and diagenetic processes seems less relevant.

Mineralogy and crystallization patterns in conodont bioapatite from first occurrence (Cambrian) to extinction (end-Triassic) / Medici, Luca; Malferrari, Daniele; Savioli, Martina; Ferretti, Annalisa. - In: PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY. - ISSN 0031-0182. - 549:-(2020), pp. 1-11. [10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.02.024]

Mineralogy and crystallization patterns in conodont bioapatite from first occurrence (Cambrian) to extinction (end-Triassic)

Luca Medici;Daniele Malferrari;Martina Savioli;Annalisa Ferretti
2020

Abstract

Bioapatite represents an important acquisition in the evolution of life, both in the seas and on land. Vertebrates applied calcium-phosphate biominerals to grow their skeletal support and to shape their teeth, while some invertebrates sheltered their soft parts within apatite shells. Conodonts were the first among vertebrates to experiment with skeletal biomineralization of tooth-like elements in their feeding apparatus. Spanning a time record of over 300 million years, they offer a unique tool to test possible variation in bioapatite structure from the experimentation of a very primitive biomineralization type to a more evolute pattern just before going extinct. X-ray microdiffraction carried out through an X-ray micro-diffractometer, integrated with environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with chemical microanalyses (ESEM-EDX), has been applied in this study to investigate conodont element crystal structure throughout the entire stratigraphic range of these organisms. In particular, bioapatite crystallographic cell parameters have been calculated for about one hundred conodont elements ranging from the late Cambrian to the Late Triassic. Resulting data clearly indicate two distinct distribution plots of cell parameters for paraconodonts and euconodonts. In contrast, age, taxonomy, geographic provenance and CAI do not affect the dimension of the bioapatite crystal cells. Conodont bioapatite crystallographic cell parameters have been compared with cell parameters resulting from phosphatic/phosphatized material (ostracodes, brachiopods, bryozoans, and fish teeth) present in the same residues producing conodonts. Resulting values of the cell parameters are, in general, mainly correlated with the type of organisms even if, for some of them, a correlation also with age cannot be completely ruled out. According to our data, primary bioapatite appears to imprint a key signature on fossil crystal-chemistry (crystal structure and major chemical element contents), while the contribution of fossilization and diagenetic processes seems less relevant.
2020
1-mar-2019
549
-
1
11
Mineralogy and crystallization patterns in conodont bioapatite from first occurrence (Cambrian) to extinction (end-Triassic) / Medici, Luca; Malferrari, Daniele; Savioli, Martina; Ferretti, Annalisa. - In: PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY. - ISSN 0031-0182. - 549:-(2020), pp. 1-11. [10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.02.024]
Medici, Luca; Malferrari, Daniele; Savioli, Martina; Ferretti, Annalisa
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Medici et al., 2020.pdf

Accesso riservato

Tipologia: Versione pubblicata dall'editore
Dimensione 2.67 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
2.67 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
PALAEO_2018_134_Revision 2_compresso.pdf

Open access

Tipologia: Versione dell'autore revisionata e accettata per la pubblicazione
Dimensione 1.09 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.09 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Licenza Creative Commons
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1171775
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 14
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 12
social impact