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RAPID COMMUNICATION Evolutionary response by bivalves to changing Phanerozoic sea-water chemistry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1997

E. M. HARPER ,
T. J. PALMER  and
J. R. ALPHEY
E. M. HARPER
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
T. J. PALMER
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, UK
J. R. ALPHEY
Affiliation:
Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge CB2 1TA, UK
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Abstract

Sedimentological evidence suggests that sea-water chemistry has oscillated between ‘Aragonite’ and ‘Calcite’ seas during the course of Phanerozoic time. During ‘Calcite’ sea periods aragonite was soluble and dissolved on the sea-floor. Here we propose, using a survey of familial diversity, that during times of such corrosive seas bivalved molluscs which secreted their shells entirely of aragonite were at a selective disadvantage compared to those with calcitic outer shell layers. This is the first case in which it has been suggested that there was a dynamic link between sea-water chemistry and the evolution of a particular taxon throughout Phanerozoic time.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 134 , Issue 3 , May 1997 , pp. 403 - 407
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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