Role of Cloudina fossils in reef-building

Using 3D digital models, researchers report that Cloudina, once purported to be architects of Earth's first animal reefs, were soft organisms that drifted into the crevices of ancient microbial constructions, a finding suggesting that reef building likely emerged around 20 million years later than thought; researchers produced the reconstructions with an automatic serial grinding and imaging instrument, which enables the study of samples that cannot be imaged using traditional tomographic techniques, such as X-ray computed tomography.

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Article #17-19911: "Multiscale approach reveals that Cloudina aggregates are detritus and not in situ reef constructions," by Akshay Mehra and Adam Maloof.

MEDIA CONTACT: Akshay K. Mehra, Princeton University, NJ; tel: 203-554-2920; e-mail: akmehra@princeton.edu

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