title: Unusual micrometric calcite-aragonite interface in the abalone shell Haliotis (Mollusca, Gastropoda).
abstract: Species of Haliotis (abalone) show high variety in structure and mineralogy of the shell. One of the European species (Haliotis tuberculata) in particular has an unusual shell structure in which calcite and aragonite coexist at a microscale with small patches of aragonite embedded in larger calcitic zones. A detailed examination of the boundary between calcite and aragonite using analytical microscopies shows that the organic contents of calcite and aragonite differ. Moreover, changes in the chemical composition of the two minerals seem to be gradual and define a micrometric zone of transition between the two main layers. A similar transition zone has been observed between the layers in more classical and regularly structured mollusk shells. The imbrication of microscopic patches of aragonite within a calcitic zone suggests the occurrence of very fast physiological changes in these taxa.
authors.affiliation: UMR 8148 IDES, bât. 504, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France.
authors.forename: Yannicke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dauphin
authors.affiliation: UMR 8148 IDES, bât. 504, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cuif
authors.affiliation: ID21, ESRF, BP 220, 6 rue J. Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Hiram
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Castillo-Michel
authors.affiliation: UMR SIS2M 3299, LIONS, CEA, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chevallard
authors.affiliation: UMR 8148 IDES, bât. 504, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France.
authors.forename: Bastien
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Farre
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry, School of Architecture, ENAC, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meibom
mesh_terms: D060105:Animal Shells / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry*; D008974:Mollusca / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D002119:Calcium Carbonate