Frustrating Frustules

To show the diatomaceous diet of silicate minerals, direct proof may be obtained by the direct analysis of diatom’s frustule composition. However, attempts to directly analyze diatom shells are fraught with fundamental analytical problems. The author used rare earth elements as proxies to circumvent the problem. This indirect approach taken by the author leads to the discovery of two novel facts: One: Diatoms incorporate rare earth elements from silicate minerals into their shells or frustules. Two: Diatom frustules are subjective to specific dissolution behavior depending on their productivity. These two discoveries presented a novel idea of how rare earth elements cycle in the oceans, which challenged the mainstream view of the cycling of these elements.