What minerals do the majority of corals use to build their skeletons?

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The question asks: What minerals do the majority of corals use to build their skeletons?

First, note that the provided answer list contains only one item: Aragonite. Since no other options are given to compare, we will focus on why Aragonite is the mineral associated with most coral skeletons.

Aragonite is a crystalline form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) that many reef-building corals preferentially precipitate from seawater to form their skeletons. This mineral has a distinct crystal structure (orthorhombic) and tends to crystallize under the typical seawater chemistry and temperature conditions found in tropical oceans, which is where many corals thrive.

The alternative minerals for calcium carbonate skeletons include calcite, another polymorph of CaCO3 with a different crystal structure. However, most scleractinian (reef-building) corals secrete aragonite skeletons rather than calcite, due in part to aragonite’s favorable crystallography for rapid biomineralization and its higher solubility which, in the marine environment, can be advantageous for skeletal formation.

If we were to consider why this might be incorrect in some contexts: a minority of corals or fossil groups may exhibit calcitic skeletons, or calcified structures in other organisms (like crustose coralline algae) use calcite as well, but those are different taxa or structures and not representative of the majority of modern reef-building corals. This nuance helps explain why Aragonite is identified as the primary mineral for most coral skeletons.

Understanding this distinction helps avoid the common misconception that all calcium carbonate forms are equally used by corals. The key takeaway is that corals predominantly utilize aragonite rather than calcite for their skeletons in contemporary reef systems.

Section Merge: Earth 103N (Spring 2025) Graded Quiz Module 7

What minerals do the majority of corals use to build their skeletons?

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