Variations in the Chemical Composition of the Skeletons of Non-Zooxanthellate Scleractinian (Anthozoa: Scleractinia) Corals

摘要

VI. Vernadskii [1] was the first to attract attention to the concentrating ability of living matter, which results in the enrichment of chemical elements in the biomass and is of crucial importance for the geochemistry of the ocean. The processes of carbonate biological mineralization are among the oldest geochemical processes on earth, which started operating in the Early Cambrian (40-50 Ma) and continues until now. In oceanic and marine ecosystems, living organisms with carbonate-producing functions (coccolithophores, foraminifers, corals, echinoderms, mollusks, pteropods, and others) proceed heterogeneous accumulation, a process that produces carbonate skeletons, which serve as the basis for the biogenic carbonate sedimentation in the ocean, and that is significantly contributed by corals [2].