CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND WALL STRUCTURE OF SOME GASTROPOD SHELLS FROM TIlE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, SUEZ-CANAL AND RED SEA, ECYPT.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND WALL STRUCTURE OF SOME

GASTROPOD SHELLS FROM TIlE MEDITERRANEAN SEA,

SUEZ-CANAL AND RED SEA, ECYPT.

A. A. ABDEL AAL· AND A. IC HASAN”.
*Geology Department. Faculty of Science. Alexandria University.

*~ational Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. Alexandria. Egypt.

ABSTRACT
The present work dea 15 with the chemi ca1
ana1yses of Mg. Sr and Mn cont~nt.s in some
shells of nine representative species of
two gastropod families. Murtcidae and
Strombidae. collected from the Mediterranean
Sea. Suze Cana1 and the Red Sea. The shells
collected from the Suez Canal and the Red
Sea contain hi gher Sr and Mn contents than
those collected from the Mediterranean Sea.
The Mg content is nearly equal in all the
studied shells. The surface water temperature
and salinity of the studied areas were measured
during the four seasons of the year and
compared with the results of the chemical
analyses. The wall structure of the studied
shells indicated that the shells of every
species consists of two or three layers of
the following aragonitic types: prismatic.
composite prismatic and nacreous.