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Fake News in Paleoenvironmental and Paleophysiological Interpretations: Diagenetic Changes of...
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Fake News in Paleoenvironmental and Paleophysiological Interpretations: Diagenetic Changes of Biominerals

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals & Nanominerals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2020) | Viewed by 10807

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yannicke Dauphin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National d'Histoire Naturelle, Biodiversité, 75005 Paris, France
Interests: biomineralization; mollusc shells; coral skeletons; bone and teeth; mineralogy; organic matrices; SEM; AFM; chromatography; electrophoresis; Infrared and Raman spectroscopy; XANES; electron microprobe; fossilization and diagenesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Jarosław Stolarski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, Warsaw PL‐00‐818, Poland
Interests: biomineralization; diagenesis; calcium carbonate biominerals; nano- and microstructures; fossil record

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Our knowledge of biodiversity of the past comes from the remains of living organisms: fossils. Unfortunately, most often, only originally mineralized parts of the organisms, such as bones, teeth, and "shells", are preserved in the fossil record. In contrast to synthetically or geologically formed minerals, those formed by organisms (biominerals) exhibit taxa-specific composite organic–mineral structures and heterogenous biogeochemical compositions, making biominerals prone to selective diagenetic alteration and/or dissolution. Consequently, at a given fossil locality, different preservation behaviors of biominerals can be a source of significant biases in paleoenvironmental and paleobiological interpretations, including past biodiversity.

This Special Issue is dedicated to papers dealing with fossilization mechanisms of biominerals, based on analyses of modern and fossil samples, and experimental data. New data on alterations of samples in collections are also welcome.

Dr. Yannicke Dauphin
Prof. Dr. Jaroslav Stolarski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • diagenesis
  • biominerals
  • alterations
  • fossilization
  • palaeoenvironment
  • palaeophysiology

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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20 pages, 13011 KiB  
Article
Biominerals Fossilisation: Fish Bone Diagenesis in Plio–Pleistocene African Hominid Sites of Malawi
by Christiane Denys, Olga Otero, Ottmar Kullmer, Oliver Sandrock, Timothy G. Bromage, Friedemann Schrenk and Yannicke Dauphin
Minerals 2020, 10(12), 1049; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10121049 - 25 Nov 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3986
Abstract
Fish fossilisation is relatively poorly known, and skeletal element modifications resulting from predation, burial and diagenesis need to be better investigated. In this article, we aim to provide new results about surface, structural and chemical changes in modern and fossil fish bone. Fossil [...] Read more.
Fish fossilisation is relatively poorly known, and skeletal element modifications resulting from predation, burial and diagenesis need to be better investigated. In this article, we aim to provide new results about surface, structural and chemical changes in modern and fossil fish bone. Fossil samples come from two distinct localities of roughly the same age in the Pliocene–Pleistocene Chiwondo Beds adjacent to Lake Malawi. Optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analyses and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry were carried out on three categories of fish bones: (i) fresh modern samples collected in the lake, (ii) extracted from modern fish eagle regurgitation pellets, and (iii) fossils from Malema and Mwenirondo localities. A comparison of these data allowed us to detect various modifications of bone surfaces and structure as well as composition changes. Some differences are observed between fresh bones and modern pellets, and between pellets and fossils. Moreover, fossil fish bone surface modifications, crystallinity, and chemical composition from Malema and Mwenirondo differ despite their chronological and spatial proximities (2.5–2.4 Ma, 500 m). In both sites, the post-predation modifications are strong and may hide alterations due to the predation by bird of prey such as the fish eagle. The combination of the used methods is relevant to analyses of diagenetic alterations in fish bones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fake News in Paleoenvironmental and Paleophysiological Interpretations: Diagenetic Changes of Biominerals)
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14 pages, 6045 KiB  
Article
In Situ Geochemical Analysis of Organics in Growth Lines of Antarctic Scallop Shells: Implications for Sclerochronology
by Alberto Pérez-Huerta, Sally E. Walker and Chiara Cappelli
Minerals 2020, 10(6), 529; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10060529 - 10 Jun 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2932
Abstract
Bivalve shells are extensively used as bioarchives for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Proxy calibrations in recent shells are the basis for sclerochronology and the applications of geochemistry data to fossils. Shell geochemical information, however, could be altered with the disappearance of intercrystalline organic [...] Read more.
Bivalve shells are extensively used as bioarchives for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Proxy calibrations in recent shells are the basis for sclerochronology and the applications of geochemistry data to fossils. Shell geochemical information, however, could be altered with the disappearance of intercrystalline organic matrix components, including those linked to shell growth increments, during early diagenesis. Thus, an evaluation of the chemistry of such organics is needed for the correct use of sclerochronological records in fossil shells. Here, we use atom probe tomography (APT) for in situ geochemical characterization of the insoluble organic matrix in shell growth increments in the Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki. We confirm the presence of carboxylated S-rich proteoglycans, possibly involved in calcite nucleation and growth in these scallops, with significant concentrations of magnesium and calcium. Diagenetic modification of these organic components could impact proxy data based on Mg/Ca ratios, but more importantly the use of the δ15N proxy, since most of the shell nitrogen is likely bound to the amide groups of proteins. Overall, our findings reinforce the idea that shell organics need to be accounted for in the understanding of geochemical proxies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fake News in Paleoenvironmental and Paleophysiological Interpretations: Diagenetic Changes of Biominerals)
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20 pages, 8903 KiB  
Article
Using Microstructures and Composition to Decipher the Alterations of Rodent Teeth in Modern Regurgitation Pellets—A Good News-Bad News Story
by Yannicke Dauphin
Minerals 2020, 10(1), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10010063 - 12 Jan 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3145
Abstract
Rodent accumulations are widely used for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. But these accumulations are created through the activity of predators (carnivorous mammals, birds of prey), the predation and digestion of which modify the preservation of bones and teeth. The microstructures of dentine and enamel, as [...] Read more.
Rodent accumulations are widely used for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. But these accumulations are created through the activity of predators (carnivorous mammals, birds of prey), the predation and digestion of which modify the preservation of bones and teeth. The microstructures of dentine and enamel, as well as the mineralogy and composition of non-digested and digested Rodent teeth extracted from modern regurgitation pellets collected at Olduvai (Tanzania) from a bird of prey (Bubo sp.) are compared. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Electron Probe Micro Analysis (EPMA) and Raman spectrometry were used. The modifications induced by the digestion process are variable and depend on the tissue (enamel, dentine), tooth (incisor, molar) and the predator. For a given tissue of a tooth, the estimation of the intensity of the alteration varies according to the selected criteria. To classify the digested teeth in categories based on a single parameter to reconstruct environment is still subjective, even for modern accumulations. Moreover, to identify the interplay of diverse parameters to avoid biases in reconstructions is difficult. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fake News in Paleoenvironmental and Paleophysiological Interpretations: Diagenetic Changes of Biominerals)
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