An Overview of Biomineralization Processes and the Problem of the Vital Effect

“Biomineralization links soft organic tissues, which are compositionally akin to the atmosphere and oceans, with the hard materials of the solid Earth. It provides organisms with skeletons and shells while they are alive, and when they die these are deposited as sediment in environments from river plains to the deep ocean floor. It is also these hard, resistant products of life which are mainly responsible for the Earth’s fossil record. Consequently, biomineralization involves biologists, chemists, and geologists in interdisciplinary studies at one of the interfaces between Earth and life.” (Leadbeater and Riding 1986)