Seeing Snails in a New Light

Luminescence is exhibited by many common minerals, some of which have been exploited for dating. Calcite has the potential to date events that occurred over millions of years, but a series of challenges has hindered its use in dating limestone building stones, speleothems, and mollusk shells. Now, however, promising results from calcite luminescence dating have been achieved from an unexpected source: the opercula grown by certain species of snail. Coupled with innovations in luminescence imaging systems, snail opercula offer an exciting new approach that may finally unlock calcite’s potential for dating.