| Several authors suggested that the thinning, with increasing depth of deposition, of calcite X-ray diffractometry (XRD) peaks obtained on planktonic foraminifera tests resulted from the preferential removal of their poorly crystallized parts as dissolution increases. By deconvolving XRD peak (104) from Globorotalia tumida (surface sediments, Sierra Leone Rise depth transect), we show that the full width at midheight does not depend only upon crystallinity, but reflects also the chemical and structural heterogeneity of foraminifera tests, which results in closely spaced, individual (104) diffraction peaks corresponding to phases with slightly different Mg contents. G. tumida contains two calcite phases: a well crystallized, Mg-poor calcite and a poorly... |
