Abstract
Abstract This paper focuses on the differences of physical properties, specifically local dielectric function, of biogenic and geological mineral CaCO3. The goal is to assess the role of organism in forming biogenic inorganic materials. Local dielectric functions of biogenic and geological minerals were determined by transmission electron energy loss spectroscopy using a previously developed strategy. Previous work on microstructural characterization of biological hard tissues, e.g., abalone shells, has shown variations in terms of defects, morphology, crystallography, and organization of nano- and microstructures in two biological polymorphs of calcium carbonate, calcite and aragonite, in the prismatic and nacreous regions, respectively. In the abalone, the outer (1-5 mm thick) region of the shell is composed of calcite crystallites (1-5 μm diameter) with columnar organization perpendicular to shell plane. On the inner region, 1-10 mm thick nacre is composed of aragonite crystallites (0.5 μm thick and 5 -10 μm edge-length) forming flat platelets, parallel to the shell plane.
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