Dead, fossil or alive: Bioapatite diagenesis and fossilization

Calcium carbonate, silica and calcium phosphate have been selectively used by organisms in the production of mineralized hard parts throughout the Phanerozoic. Among these materials, bioapatite has enabled fundamental acquisitions in the evolution of life. Despite the remarkable biological success, the crystallography of bioapatite and the eventual modification of its lattice parameters over geological time have in contrast been scarcely...