Pyritized preservation of chancelloriids from the Cambrian Stage 3 ofSouth China and implications for biomineralization Show others and affiliations
2021 (English) In: Geobios, ISSN 0016-6995, E-ISSN 1777-5728, Vol. 69, p. 77-86Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The enigmatic Cambrian animal chancelloriids were discovered in a wide range of taphonomic settings; however, preservation of biomineralized sclerite microstructure was solely known from secondarily phosphatized skeletal remains. Here, we investigate a uniquely pyritized chancelloriid from the lowerCambrian Guojiaba Formation in southern Shaanxi Province, China, using a combination of advanced analytic techniques. Results of the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Raman spectrum show that the sclerites and scleritomes are preserved as pyritized internal moulds witha calcitic outer layer. The outer layer enveloping the internal moulds likely represents the recrystallized counterpart of the original biomineralized sclerite wall. Distinctive fibrous microstructures are discovered in the sclerites, which echo the features seen in the phosphatized fossils of chancelloriids. The typical microstructure, along with the recrystallized calcite, corroborate the interpretation that chancelloriid sclerites were originally constructed by fibrous aragonite. The stability of the microstructure and mineral composition in both carbonate and siliciclastic backgrounds indicate that chancelloriids were adapted to exploit aragonitic fibres to build their skeletons regardless of the change of their living environments.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Amsterdam, 2021. Vol. 69, p. 77-86
Keywords [en]
Chancelloriida, Scleritome, Fossilization, Fibrous aragonite, Guojiaba Formation
National Category
Other Earth Sciences
Research subject Ecosystems and species history; The changing Earth
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-4608 DOI: 10.1016/j.geobios.2021.06.001 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-4608 DiVA, id: diva2:1621575
Note This study was supported by National Key Research and Development Program (grant number 2017YFC0603101), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 41621003, 41890840, 41930319, and 42002011), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number XDB26000000), the 111 Project (grant number D17013), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant number 2019M663793).
2021-12-012021-12-202025-02-07 Bibliographically approved