@misc{10481/79059,
year = {2022},
month = {10},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/79059},
abstract = {Elephants are currently the largest terrestrial mammals, along with their extinct ancestor
the mammoth. These species are of great interest due to their geographic distribution and ecological
importance. However, the bone mineral characteristics of their skeleton as well as their alteration
during burial processes over millions of years have been poorly investigated. In the current research,
we analyzed the compositional and structural mineral properties of different types (i.e., long and
flat bones) of elephant and mammoth bones. For this purpose, we performed a comparative study
between these bone types using complementary analytical techniques based on X-ray diffraction,
thermogravimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and
inductively coupled plasma spectroscopic analysis. The chemical composition of the samples shows
a relative loss of a considerable percentage of water and organic matter components for the fossilized
bone, accompanied by a higher bone mineralization degree and the presence of other crystalline
phases (i.e., calcite and pyrite) related to a certain degree of diagenesis alteration. Our results also
show a variation in the crystalline properties of mammoth bone related to the recrystallization process
during the dissolution–precipitation transformation through diagenetic burial. This research provides
relevant information for understanding the mineral properties of different types of bones and their
possible changes during diagenesis.},
organization = {Spanish Government	CGL2015-64683-P	
PID2020-116660GB-I00},
organization = {European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)-Next Generation-EU program},
publisher = {MDPI},
keywords = {Bones},
keywords = {Mineralization},
keywords = {Elephant},
keywords = {Mammoth},
keywords = {Fossilized},
keywords = {Chemical composition},
keywords = {Crystallinity},
title = {Comparative Study of the Mineralogy and Chemistry Properties of Elephant Bones: Implications during Diagenesis Processes},
doi = {10.3390/min12111384},
author = {Monasterio Guillot, Luis and Crespo López, Laura and Rodríguez Navarro, Alejandro and Álvarez Lloret, Pedro},
}