Title
Mineralogical and geochemical characterization of fossil bones from a Miocene marine Konservat-Lagerstätte
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Bosio G.
Gioncada A.
Gariboldi K.
Bonaccorsi E.
Collareta A.
Pasero M.
Di Celma C.
Malinverno E.
Bianucci G.
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ltd
Abstract
Fossil bones, together with teeth, are the most common remains of vertebrates that could manage to get preserved over geological times, providing information on the diagenetic and fossilization processes that occurred in the depositional paleoenvironment. Fossil bones from the marine vertebrate Konservat-Lagerstätte in the East Pisco Basin and Sacaco area (Peru) show a high variety of different textural and chemical features, suggestive of different processes variably contributing to the fossilization path. At the macroscopic scale, bone samples can be grouped into six different categories on the basis of the color (red to gray to white) and hardness (which relates to the mineralization degree); a variety of case studies can be found between these categories. Microscopically, the original microstructure of the bone tissue, both compact and cancellous, is well preserved in all the studied samples, with differences in cavity fillings, distribution of microcracks, and presence of Fe oxides in the diverse bone types. The bone composition and mineralogy correspond to fluorapatite. Differences in color, mineralization degree and geochemistry can be interpreted in terms of different fossilization paths, from burial at the seafloor to exposure in the present-day desert environment. The fossilization paths are strongly conditioned by the factors controlling the interplay of the mechanisms of apatite dissolution-recrystallization and dolomite precipitation (formation of carbonate concretions) as well as the fixation of iron in finely disseminated sulfides in the very early stages of fossilization.
Volume
105
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Mineralogía
Geoquímica, Geofísica
Arqueología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85092463428
Source
Journal of South American Earth Sciences
ISSN of the container
08959811
Sponsor(s)
This study was supported by grants from the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca (PRIN Project, 2012YJSBMK) and the Università di Pisa (PRA_2015_0028 and PRA_2017_0032).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus