Francolite as a diagenetic mineral in dinosaur and other Upper Cretaceous reptile bones (Laño, Iberian Peninsula): microstructural, petrological and geochemical features

A structural approach in the study of bones: fossil and burnt bones at nanosize scale

“…[42][43]. These findings support previous observations [44,3] who reports that fossilisation involves the transformation from bioapatite to francolite (i.e., authigenic bioapatite) by dissolution-reprecipitation mechanisms in long times of reaction.…”

Multiproxy reconstruction of the palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment of the Middle Miocene Somosaguas site (Madrid, Spain) using herbivore dental enamel

“…5) did not show evidence of micro organisms affecting this tissue during the fossilization process and therefore it can be assumed that pristine 8 18 0P04 values have been maintained. (Elorza et al, 1999;Metzger et al, 2004;Martin et al, 2005;Trueman et al, 2006). However, the vast majority of studies deal preferentially with fossil bone that traditionally has been considered more prone to suffer diagenetic effects.…”

Calcium orthophosphates (CaPO 4 ): Occurrence and properties

“…org/min-10072.html). Francolite is found in natural phosphorites predominantly as fossil bones and phosphatized microbial pseudomorphs: phosphatic crusts of chasmolithic biofilms (or microstromatolites) and globular clusters with intra-particular porosities (Elorza et al 1999;Hubert et al 2005;Xiao et al 1998Xiao et al , 2000. Natural phosphorites (therefore, francolite and collophane as well) occur in various forms, such as nodules, crystals or masses.…”

“…Stability of the mineral composition of bones has a very long history: CaPO 4 were found in dinosaur fossils (Elorza et al 1999;Eagle et al 2010;Haynes 1968;Rensberger and Watabe 2000;Kolodny et al 1996;Trueman and Tuross 2002). Therefore, organisms have had a great deal of time to exploit the feedback between composition and structure in apatite, on the one hand, and benefit from its biological functionality, on the other.…”