Structure of the organic matter of conodont elements: atomic force microscopy data

The mineral composition of conodont elements is known in details; however their organic matter is studied in a less degree. The previous investigations had demonstrated that organic matter, consisting less than 4 % of a conodont element, was composed of collagen-like protein (Kemp, 1997, 2000, 2002; Rosseeva et al., 2011; Zhuravlev & Shevchuk, 2017). This work is aimed at characterizing of the structure of organic matter of the lamellar tissue of the Frasnian conodont element. The studied conodont element (CAI = 1, temperature of catagenesis