Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T21:37:39.724Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Overcoming the problems of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy of biogenic aragonite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

S. E. Ness ,
D. W. Haywick  and
C. Cuff
S. E. Ness
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
D. W. Haywick
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
C. Cuff
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy of biogenic carbonate minerals is hampered by a lack of stability during exposure to the electron beam. However, aragonite in bivalve shells may be successfully imaged using a modification of the ‘minimal-exposure technique’ of Williams and Fisher (1970). Diffraction patterns taken before and after beam exposure indicate that the aragonite remained stable during imaging. The procedure described here should prove useful for further studies of the ultrastructure and/or the diagenesis of biogenic carbonate minerals.

Keywords

transmission electron microscopycarbonate mineralsaragonite
Type
Mineralogy and Petrology
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 54 , Issue 377 , December 1990 , pp. 589 - 592
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barber, D. J., Freeman, L. A. and Smith, D. J. (1981) High-voltage, high-resolution lattice images of dolomite. Nature, 290, 389-90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bathurst, R. G. C. (1975) Carbonate Sediments and Their Diagenesis. Development in Sedimentology, 12. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 658 pp.Google Scholar
Frisia Bruni, S. and Wenk, H-R. (1985) Replacement of aragonite by calcite in sediments from the San Cassiano Formation (Italy). J. Sed Petrol. 55, 159-70.Google Scholar
Gunderson, S. H. and Wenk, H-R. (1981) Heterogeneous microstructures in oolitic carbonates. Am. Mineral. 66, 789-800.Google Scholar
Haywick, D. W. and Ness, S. E. (in prep.) Diagenesis of aragonitic bivalves: an integrated petrographical, geochemical and isotopic study.Google Scholar
Haywick, D. W., Lowe, D. A. and Beu, A. G. (Submitted) Plio–Pleistocene (Nukumaruan) lithostratigraphy of the Tangoio Block, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys. Google Scholar
James, N. P. (1974) Diagenesis of scleractinian corals in the subaerial vadose environment. J. Paleont. 48, 785-99.Google Scholar
James, N. P. and Choquette, P. W. (1984) Diagenesis 9. Limestones, the meteoric diagenetic environment. Geosci. Canada, 11, 161-94.Google Scholar
Joint Committee for Powder Diffraction Standards (J.C.P.D.S.) International Centre for Diffraction Data. U.S.A. (1984).Google Scholar
Mann, S., Parker, S. B., Ross, M. D., Skarnulis, A. J. and Williams, R. J. P. (1983) The ultrastructure of the calcium carbonate balance origins of the inner ear: an ultra-high resolution electron microscopy study. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, B218, 415-24.Google Scholar
McTigue, J. W. Jr. and Wenk, H.-R. (1985) Microstructures and orientation relationships in the dry-state aragonite-calcite and calcite-lime phase transformations. Am. Mineral. 70, 1253-61.Google Scholar
Meike, A., Wenk, H-R, O'Keefe, M. A., and Gronsky, R. (1988) Atomic resolution microscopy of carbonates. Interpretation of contrast. Phys. Chem. Minerals, 15, 427-37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pingitore, N. E. (1976) Vadose and phreatic diagenesis: processes, products and their recognition in corals. J. Sed. Petrol. 46, 785-1006.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. D., Kennedy, W. J., and Hall, A. (1969) The shell structure and mineralogy of the Bivalvia. Introduction Nuculacea-Trigonacea. Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.). Zoology (Supplement), 3, 1-125.Google Scholar
Wenk, H.-R. and Zhang, F. (1985) Coherent transformations in calcian dolomites. Geology, 13, 457-60.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, R. C. and Fisher, H. W. (1970) Electron microscopy of tobacco mosaic virus under conditions of minimal beam exposure. J. Molecular Biol. 52, 121-3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed