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Science 5 October 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5847, pp. 92 - 94
DOI: 10.1126/science.1149237
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Reports

A Cretaceous Scleractinian Coral with a Calcitic Skeleton

Jaroslaw Stolarski,1* Anders Meibom,2 Radoslaw Przenioslo,3 Maciej Mazur4

It has been generally thought that scleractinian corals form purely aragonitic skeletons. We show that a well-preserved fossil coral, Coelosmilia sp. from the Upper Cretaceous (about 70 million years ago), has preserved skeletal structural features identical to those observed in present-day scleractinians. However, the skeleton of Coelosmilia sp. is entirely calcitic. Its fine-scale structure and chemistry indicate that the calcite is primary and did not form from the diagenetic alteration of aragonite. This result implies that corals, like other groups of marine, calcium carbonate–producing organisms, can form skeletons of different carbonate polymorphs.

1 Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, PL-00-818 Warsaw, Poland.
2 Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire d'Etude de la Matière Extraterrestre, USM 0205 (LEME), Case Postale 52, 61 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
3 Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Warsaw, Hoza 69, PL-00-681 Warsaw, Poland.
4 Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Electrochemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, PL-02-093 Warsaw, Poland.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stolacy{at}twarda.pan.pl

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E-Letters:

Read all E-Letters

Fine Structure Can Survive Mineral Replacement
David C. Campbell
Science Online, 10 Dec 2007 [Full text]

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)