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Variation of Strontium Content within Shells of Recent Nautilus and Sepia

Nature volume 215, pages 1272–1274 (1967)Cite this article

Abstract

OUR survey of the strontium content of aragonite shells from living and fossil cephalopods1 has prompted us to make a more detailed study of the variations of strontium concentration within individual shells of two familiar species now extant—Sepia officinalis and Nautilus pompilius. Preliminary analysis revealed marked difference in the strontium content of the dorsal and ventral components of the aragonite sepion or cuttlebone of Sepia, and so we have investigated in detail samples of these specimens from different parts of the two components of the shells. Most of this communication is, however, concerned with the analyses of samples from two specimens of Nautilus. Altogether we have made 350 determinations of strontium, using an X-ray fluorescence technique1. All samples were analysed in duplicate and the precisional error ranged from ±1.8 to ±2.5 per cent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh,

    N. B. PRICE & A. HALLAM

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  1. N. B. PRICE
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  2. A. HALLAM
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PRICE, N., HALLAM, A. Variation of Strontium Content within Shells of Recent Nautilus and Sepia. Nature 215, 1272–1274 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2151272a0

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