Correlative microscopy of the constituents of a dinosaur rib fossil and hosting mudstone: Implications on diagenesis and fossil preservation.

ABSTRACT: We have applied correlative microscopy to identify the key constituents of a dorsal rib fossil from Koreanosaurus boseongensis and its hosting mudstone discovered at the rich fossil site in Boseong, South Korea, to investigate the factors that likely contributed to diagenesis and the preservation of fossil bone. Calcite and illite were the commonly occurring phases in the rib bone, hosting mudstone, and the boundary region in-between. The boundary region may have contributed to bone preservation once it fully formed by acting as a protective shell. Fluorapatite crystals in the rib bone matrix signified diagenetic alteration of the original bioapatite crystals. While calcite predominantly occupied vascular channels and cracks, platy illite crystals widely occupied miniscule pores throughout

SUBMITTER: Kim JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5648225 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature