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Compositional Changes of Recent Mollusc Shells on the Sea Floor

Abstract

THE use of chemical or isotopic composition of marine calcareous skeletons in palaeo-ecology is based on the assumption of unaltered composition. Recrystallization, or solution and reprecipitation, of CaCO3 causes equilibration of isotopic and chemical composition with the diagenetic environment. Lack of recrystallization is often taken as an indication of unaltered composition.

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POLIFKA, J., ATWOOD, D., PILKEY, O. et al. Compositional Changes of Recent Mollusc Shells on the Sea Floor. Nature Physical Science 240, 89–90 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/physci240089a0

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