
Some of the siliceous scales can also be preserved over time as microfossils in deep-sea sediments, providing a window into modern and ancient plankton/ protists communities. Once the organism has perished, part of the siliceous skeletal material dissolves, as it settles through the water column, enriching the deep waters with dissolved silica.

Silicon is known to be required by chicks and rats for growth and skeletal development. Likewise, some holoplanktonic protozoa ( Radiolaria), some sponges, and some plants (leaf phytoliths) use silicon as a structural material. nH 2O), which is essential to many plants and animals.ĭiatoms in both fresh and salt water extract dissolved silica from the water to use as a component of their cell walls.

Chemically, bSi is hydrated silica (SiO 2 salts) whose precipitation is dictated by solubility equilibria. This is opposed to the other major biogenic minerals, comprising carbonate and phosphate, which occur in nature as crystalline iono-covalent solids (e.g. Silica is an amorphous metal oxide formed by complex inorganic polymerization processes. For example, microscopic particles of silica called phytoliths can be found in grasses and other plants. Diatoms are capable of synthesizing silica glass in vivo.īiogenic silica (bSi), also referred to as opal, biogenic opal, or amorphous opaline silica, forms one of the most widespread biogenic minerals.
