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Brachiopod Shells: Recorders of the Present and Keys to the Past
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 July 2017
Extract
The Brachiopod shell provides more than protection for the organism dwelling within: it provides a structural record of growth and a chemical record of fluctuations in the environment in which it formed. Typically, a shell formed by an accretionary process will have growth lines visible on the shell surface that can be used to measure chronological age directly. This is common in many fossil and modern bivalve molluscs where growth bands are prominent (see, e.g., Lutz and Rhoads, 1980; Jones, 1983; Tanabe, 1988). However, growth increments are not always so easily identified in other shelled organisms. For instance, growth lines in brachiopod shells are often indistinct, and the time interval represented by each growth line is uncertain. When growth information can't be obtained directly, we must turn to an alternative method (Jones and Gould, 1999). Fortunately, periodicities in the chemical composition of a shell may serve as proxies for age (e.g., Buening and Carlson, 1992). The shell chemistry of brachiopods reflects, for the most part, the changes in chemistry of the surrounding seawater. For instance, partitioning of oxygen isotopes (18O/16O ratio) in shell carbonate is sensitive to temperature (e.g., Hoefs, 1997). Thus, if brachiopods precipitate shells in water that is affected by seasonal temperature variations, then fluctuations of the 18O/16O ratio of the shell should provide a record of annual temperature variation in ambient seawater. Consequently, this seasonal record may be used in conjunction with structural growth lines to reconstruct the life history of the individual, as well as the local environmental conditions in which the brachiopod lived.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 7: Brachiopods Ancient and Modern: A Tribute to G. Arthur Cooper , November 2001 , pp. 117 - 144
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2001 by The Paleontological Society
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