The century-old mystery of a missing mineral in coral reefs has been solved by a team from Canberra. The team uncovered a hidden stash of the mineral dolomite in coral reefs around the globe.
“We have discovered that dolomite is in fact present in large quantities in modern coral reefs, but from an unexpected source.” The team’s eureka moment came when they found large quantities of dolomite packed inside a ‘reef builder’ species of red algae, Hydrolithon onkodes.
Dr Bradley Opdyke, Ms Marinda Nash, Dr Uli Troitzsch, Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU
Biogeosciences