Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales
Carbonate concretions occur in sedimentary rocks of widely varying geological ages throughout the world. Many of these concretions are isolated spheres, centered on fossils. The formation of such concretions has been variously explained by diffusion of inorganic carbon and organic matter in buried m...
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| Format: | Online |
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Nature Publishing Group
2015
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569893/ |
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pubmed-45698932015-09-28 Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales Yoshida, Hidekazu Ujihara, Atsushi Minami, Masayo Asahara, Yoshihiro Katsuta, Nagayoshi Yamamoto, Koshi Sirono, Sin-iti Maruyama, Ippei Nishimoto, Shoji Metcalfe, Richard Article Carbonate concretions occur in sedimentary rocks of widely varying geological ages throughout the world. Many of these concretions are isolated spheres, centered on fossils. The formation of such concretions has been variously explained by diffusion of inorganic carbon and organic matter in buried marine sediments. However, details of the syn-depositional chemical processes by which the isolated spherical shape developed and the associated carbon sources are little known. Here we present evidence that spherical carbonate concretions (diameters φ : 14 ~ 37 mm) around tusk-shells (Fissidentalium spp.) were formed within weeks or months following death of the organism by the seepage of fatty acid from decaying soft body tissues. Characteristic concentrations of carbonate around the mouth of a tusk-shell reveal very rapid formation during the decay of organic matter from the tusk-shell. Available observations and geochemical evidence have enabled us to construct a ‘Diffusion-growth rate cross-plot’ that can be used to estimate the growth rate of all kinds of isolated spherical carbonate concretions identified in marine formations. Results shown here suggest that isolated spherical concretions that are not associated with fossils might also be formed from carbon sourced in the decaying soft body tissues of non-skeletal organisms with otherwise low preservation potential. Nature Publishing Group 2015-09-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4569893/ /pubmed/26369805 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep14123 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Yoshida, Hidekazu Ujihara, Atsushi Minami, Masayo Asahara, Yoshihiro Katsuta, Nagayoshi Yamamoto, Koshi Sirono, Sin-iti Maruyama, Ippei Nishimoto, Shoji Metcalfe, Richard |
| spellingShingle |
Yoshida, Hidekazu Ujihara, Atsushi Minami, Masayo Asahara, Yoshihiro Katsuta, Nagayoshi Yamamoto, Koshi Sirono, Sin-iti Maruyama, Ippei Nishimoto, Shoji Metcalfe, Richard Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| author_facet |
Yoshida, Hidekazu Ujihara, Atsushi Minami, Masayo Asahara, Yoshihiro Katsuta, Nagayoshi Yamamoto, Koshi Sirono, Sin-iti Maruyama, Ippei Nishimoto, Shoji Metcalfe, Richard |
| author_sort |
Yoshida, Hidekazu |
| title |
Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| title_short |
Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| title_full |
Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| title_fullStr |
Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| title_sort |
early post-mortem formation of carbonate concretions around tusk-shells over week-month timescales |
| description |
Carbonate concretions occur in sedimentary rocks of widely varying geological ages throughout the world. Many of these concretions are isolated spheres, centered on fossils. The formation of such concretions has been variously explained by diffusion of inorganic carbon and organic matter in buried marine sediments. However, details of the syn-depositional chemical processes by which the isolated spherical shape developed and the associated carbon sources are little known. Here we present evidence that spherical carbonate concretions (diameters φ : 14 ~ 37 mm) around tusk-shells (Fissidentalium spp.) were formed within weeks or months following death of the organism by the seepage of fatty acid from decaying soft body tissues. Characteristic concentrations of carbonate around the mouth of a tusk-shell reveal very rapid formation during the decay of organic matter from the tusk-shell. Available observations and geochemical evidence have enabled us to construct a ‘Diffusion-growth rate cross-plot’ that can be used to estimate the growth rate of all kinds of isolated spherical carbonate concretions identified in marine formations. Results shown here suggest that isolated spherical concretions that are not associated with fossils might also be formed from carbon sourced in the decaying soft body tissues of non-skeletal organisms with otherwise low preservation potential. |
| publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569893/ |
| _version_ |
1613475806076469248 |