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    Science. 2007 Jun 1;316(5829):1302.

    Seawater chemistry and early carbonate biomineralization.

    Source

    Department of Earth Science, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. porter@geol.ucsb.edu

    Abstract

    The first appearances of aragonite and calcite skeletons in 18 animal clades that independently evolved mineralization during the late Ediacaran through the Ordovician (approximately 550 to 444 million years ago) correspond to intervals when seawater chemistry favored aragonite and calcite precipitation, respectively. Skeletal mineralogies rarely changed once skeletons evolved, despite subsequent changes in seawater chemistry. Thus, the selection of carbonate skeletal minerals appears to have been dictated by seawater chemistry at the time a clade first acquired its mineralized skeleton.

    PMID:
    17540895
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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