Structures of calcium carbonate polymorphs. Aragonite (left) has an orthorhombic crystal structure, while calcite (right) is trigonal. Image Credit: Proto In order to investigate the susceptibility of ...

Reef-forming corals are marine animals that produce a hard skeleton made up of aragonite, one form of the mineral calcium carbonate. But how the skeletons grow has remained unclear.

My focus is on the calcium carbonate, specifically the mineral form aragonite, which is the most common form used by mollusks. The other common form is calcite.

Calcium carbonate, found in nacre, is pervasive, but to understand its defects at the atomic scale, the compound must be exposed to electrons, which can damage its chemical makeup. Using sensitive but ...

In their study, the authors used the vast global fossil record of marine organisms that secreted calcium carbonate, which encompasses more than 400,000 samples dating from 10,000 years BC up to ...

Chalk and seashells are made of the same stuff. So why is one crumbly and the other tough?