FLUORINE IN FOSSILIZED BONE AND TOOTH: DISTRIBUTION AMONG SKELETAL TISSUES

Abstract
S: Because of differences in their physical properties, bone, tooth dentine and tooth enamel react very differently during the course of fossilization. This relationship is shown clearly in the case of diagenetic introduction of fluorine wherein bone and dentine with high permeability and small apatite crystallite size contain 2–3 times the amount of fluorine as coexisting enamel with its low permeability and large crystallites. Smaller differences in the same sense are found within bone types from the same species, and care must be used in applying fluorine content methods even among bones from the same deposit.