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From bone to fossil: A review of the diagenesis of bioapatite

  • Sarah W. Keenan EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 1, 2016
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Abstract

The preservation of bone or bioapatite over geologic time has presented paleobiologists with long-standing and formidable questions. Namely, to elucidate the mechanisms, processes, rates, and depositional conditions responsible for the formation of a fossil from a once living tissue. Approaches integrating geochemistry, mineralogy, physics, hydrology, sedimentology, and taphonomy have all furthered insights into fossilization, but several fundamental gaps still remain. Notably, our limited understanding of: (1) the timing of processes during diagenesis (e.g., early and/or late), (2) the rate of bioapatite transformation into thermodynamically more stable phases, (3) the controls imparted by depositional environment, and (4) the role of (micro)biology in determining the fate of bone bioapatite (dissolution or preservation). The versatility of fossil bioapatite to provide information on the biology of extinct vertebrates rests on our ability to identify and characterize the changes that occurred to bioapatite during diagenesis. This review will evaluate our current understanding of bioapatite diagenesis and fossilization, focusing on the biogeochemical transformations that occur during diagenesis to the mineral and organic components of bone (excluding teeth and enamel), the analytical approaches applied to evaluate fossilization processes, and outline some suggestions for future promising directions.


Special collection papers can be found online at http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/AmMin/special-collections.html.



Present address: Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, University of Tennessee, 2506 E.J. Chapman Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, U.S.A

Acknowledgments

Dan Harlov and John Hughes are acknowledged for organizing this thematic issue. Jill Pasteris provided discussions and feedback on bone as a living tissue. Many of the ideas presented in this paper benefited from the feedback of several individuals, including Annette S. Engel, Chris Fedo, Linda Kah, Mark Radosevich, and Larry Taylor. This review greatly benefitted from the comments and suggestions of two reviewers, Alan Koenig and Celina Suarez, as well as the editor, John Hughes.

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Received: 2016-2-25
Accepted: 2016-5-2
Published Online: 2016-9-1
Published in Print: 2016-9-1

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. Styles of aqueous alteration on Mars
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  4. Study on nanophase iron oxyhydroxides in freshwater ferromanganese nodules from Green Bay, Lake Michigan
  5. Review
  6. Redox variations in the inner solar system with new constraints from vanadium XANES in spinels
  7. Special Collection: Apatite: A Common Mineral, Uncommonly Versatile
  8. From bone to fossil: A review of the diagenesis of bioapatite
  9. Special Collection: Olivine
  10. Nickel–cobalt contents of olivine record origins of mantle peridotite and related rocks
  11. Special Collection: Rates And Depths Of Magma Ascent On Earth
  12. Experimental simulation of bubble nucleation and magma ascent in basaltic systems: Implications for Stromboli volcano
  13. Special Collection: Nanominerals and Mineral Nanoparticles
  14. Study on nanophase iron oxyhydroxides in freshwater ferromanganese nodules from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, with implications for the adsorption of As and heavy metals
  15. Special Collection: Building Planets: The Dynamics and Geochemistry of Core Formation
  16. The effects of shear deformation on planetesimal core segregation: Results from in-situ X-ray micro-tomography
  17. Special Collection: Martian Rocks and Minerals: Perspectives from Rovers, Orbiters, and Meteorites
  18. VNIR multispectral observations of aqueous alteration materials by the Pancams on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers
  19. Research Article
  20. Experimental investigation of the kinetics of the spinel-to-garnet transformation in peridotite: A preliminary study
  21. Research Article
  22. Thermodynamics, self-diffusion, and structure of liquid NaAlSi3O8 to 30 GPa by classical molecular dynamics simulations
  23. Research Article
  24. Magnetite plaquettes are naturally asymmetric materials in meteorites
  25. Research Article
  26. Rare-earth perovskites along the CaTiO3-Na0.5La0.5TiO3 join: Phase transitions, formation enthalpies, and implications for loparite minerals
  27. Research Article
  28. Kinetics of Fe3+ mineral crystallization from ferrihydrite in the presence of Si at alkaline conditions and implications for nuclear waste disposal
  29. Research Article
  30. Multi-scale three-dimensional characterization of iron particles in dusty olivine: Implications for paleomagnetism of chondritic meteorites
  31. Research Article
  32. Modeling dislocation glide and lattice friction in Mg2SiO4 wadsleyite in conditions of the Earth’s transition zone
  33. Research Article
  34. Carlsonite, (NH4)5Fe33+O(SO4)67H2O , and huizingite-(Al), (NH4)9Al3(SO4)8(OH)2·4H2O, two new minerals from a natural fire in an oil-bearing shale near Milan, Ohio
  35. Research-article
  36. Vránaite, ideally Al16B4Si4O38, a new mineral related to boralsilite, Al16B6Si2O37, from the Manjaka pegmatite, Sahatany Valley, Madagascar
  37. Research-article
  38. Gaussian thermoluminescence in long-range disordered K-feldspar
  39. New Mineral Names
  40. New Mineral Names
  41. Book Review
  42. Book Review: Gems & Crystals From One of the World’s Great Collections
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