Study of Crystal

Structure
Of Sea Shells
By:
Guided by: Pavani Misra
Prof. S. Balakrishnan
Dr. R. Bhutani
Zeeshan Ahmad
Dept. of Earth Sciences
Pondicherry University 1
2010
your name
 Objective
Determination of :
• cell parameters
• crystal systems
• different phases
• d-spacing

And also the comparison

between the biological
samples and there
geological counterparts 2 your name
 Introduction
•Sea shell- a hard, protective outer
layer created by, a marine organism.

•The blood of a mollusk is rich in a

liquid form of calcium.

•The mantle inside the shell deposits

sheets of the crystal in varying
thicknesses.

Seashells have been admired, studied

and used by humans for many
different purposes throughout history
and pre-history. 3 your name
Samples
• Corals

• Gastropoda

• Cephalopoda

• Pelecypoda
4 your name
 Habitat of samples
• Corals- shallow warm water

• Pelecypoda- Benthic zone,

bottom dwellers

• Gastropoda- Littoral zone,

shallow marine

• Cephalopoda- Nektonic zone,

free-swimming 5 your name
Place of collection of
samples
SAMPLE 1- Origin of our 1st sample is Gulf of Kutch,
Gujarat. But it was provided to us by Birbal Sahani
Institute Of Palaeobotany.

SAMPLE 2 ,3 and 4- Dead Washed away remains

from Kalapet Beach, Puducherry.

6 your name
Instruments Used

• R.O. water dispenser - for

initial cleaning of samples.
• Hot Air Oven- for drying the
cleaned samples.
• Steel mortar pestle - for
initial crushing of samples.
XRD Machine
• Agate mortar - for fine
grinding of samples.
• XRD machine (xpert) - for
diffraction data generation.

7 your name
Methodology

8 your name
 Step 1
• Collection of samples:
The corals were collected from
Birbal Sahani Institute of
Palaeobotany, Lucknow. The
other mollusca shells were
collected from Kalapet beach
with the help of acetone
cleaned forceps and carefully
kept in air tight containers.

9 your name
 Step 2
• Cleaning of samples:
The samples were cleaned with
the help of a suitable brush in
running R.O. water and kept in
hot air oven to dry.

10 your name
 Step 3
• Grinding and preparation of
powder samples:
The samples were initially
crushed using Steel mortar pestle
and were finally finely grinded
using the Agate mortar.

11 your name
 Step 4
– Powder XRD of the prepared
samples:
The XRD technique takes a sample of the material and
places a powdered sample in a holder, then the sample
is illuminated with x-rays of a fixed wavelength and the
intensity of the reflected radiation is recorded using a
goniometer. This data is then analyzed for the reflection
angle to calculate the inter-atomic spacing (D value in
Angstrom units - 10-8 cm). The intensity(I) is measured
to discriminate (using I ratios) the various D spacings
and the results are to identify possible matches.
12 your name
Measurement Specifications
during XRD:

2Ѳ range: 10-70
Scanning time: 45mins
Anode material used: Cu
K-α value: 1.54060
Measurement temperature: 25C.

13 your name
 Results
• The formula used for the
calculation of the edge
lengths is:
D2=1/√h2/a02 + k2/b02+l2/c02
• For an orthorhombic
system a0≠b0≠c0, but for a
rhombohedral system,
a0=b0≠c0.
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 Counts

0
100
200
300
Aragonite

20
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite

30
Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite
Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite
For Corals

40
Position [°2Theta]
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite

15
Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
50 Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
60

Aragonite; Aragonite
your

Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
name
 Counts

0
100
Cephalopoda

20
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite

30
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite
Aragonite
Aragonite

40
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite
For Cephalopoda

Aragonite; Aragonite

16
Aragonite; Aragonite

50
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite; Aragonite
Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
60

Aragonite; Aragonite

Aragonite; Aragonite
your name
 Counts

0
100
200
Gastropoda

20
Aragonite, syn
Aragonite, syn

30
Aragonite, syn
Aragonite, syn

Aragonite, syn
Aragonite, syn
Aragonite, syn

40

Position [°2Theta]
Aragonite, syn
Aragonite, syn
For Gastropoda

Aragonite, syn

17
Aragonite, syn
50 Aragonite, syn

Aragonite, syn
Aragonite, syn
60
your

Aragonite, syn
name
 The samples which have
aragonite, for them the
standard and calculated cell
parameters are listed below:
EDGE LENGTHS STANDARD VALUE CALCULATED CALCULATED VALUE CALCULATED VALUE
OF ARAGONITE VALUE FOR FOR FOR GASTROPODA
CORALS CEPHALOPODA

a0 4.9623 4.97428 4.975740 4.7722

b0 7.9680 7.92632 7.9930 7.964090

c0 5.7439 5.819 5.7437 5.7753

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 Counts

0
200
400
600
800
Pelecypoda

20
Calcite, syn

Calcite, syn

30
Calcite, syn

Calcite, syn

Calcite, syn

40
Position [°2Theta]
Calcite, syn
For Pelecypoda

19
Calcite, syn Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn

50

Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn
60

Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn
Calcite, syn
your name
For Pelecypoda the standard
and calculated cell parameters
are listed below:
EDGE LENGTHS STANDARD VALUE FOR CALCITE CALCULATED VALUES FOR
PELECYPODA

a0 4.9887 4.324336

b0 4.9887 4.324336

c0 17.0529 17.0673

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% Elongations in Cell
Parameters
EDGE CORALS CEPHAL GASTRO PELECYP
LENGTH OPODA PODA ODA
S

a0 +0.241 +0.273 -3.831 -13.310

b0 -0.523 +0.310 -0.040 -13.310

c0 +1.30 0 +0.546 +0.084

21 your name
 Summary Of Our Findings
• Structural distinctions between biogenic and
non-biogenic calcium carbonate.
• By high-resolution X-ray powder diffraction,
that the orthorhombic unit cell of the mollusk
aragonite and rhombohedral unit cell of calcite
are anisotropically distorted as compared with
that of geological origin.
• In all investigated shells, the maximum
elongation of about 0.5–1.3% was found along
the c-axis for aragonite and 13.31% elongation
about b-axis for calcite. 22 your name
 Conclusion
• Present study demonstrates the potential of
cell parameters of shells as a proxy to the
paleo-environmental conditions and therefore
can be used as one of the tools to understand
the paleo-depositional conditions of
fossilliferous formations.
• Moreover, a deeper understanding of this
phenomenon will aid in the development of
new approaches to grow biomimetic
composites and tailor their properties on a
molecular level. 23 your name
 Special Thanks…
During this project, we have been assisted by a
number of people to whom we would like to express
our gratitude to teachers and our seniors. We extend
our heartiest felt thanks to all of them especially,
Prof. S. Balakrishnan and Dr. R. Bhutani (Dept. of
Earth Sciences), Dr Manisha Kumari (Dept. of Earth
Sciences), and Bala Murugan Sir for performing
XRD.
We owe our thanks to dept of Earth sciences,
Pondicherry University for the encouragement and
unrestricted usage and availability of equipments.

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