Iron shuttle-driven phosphatization preserves primary shells in Cambrian Small Shelly Fossils from Bayangol Formation， Mongolia

doi: 10.1007/s12583-026-0182-4

• Kai Xiang¹ , 
• Aihua Yang² , 
• Qian Feng³ , 
• Qian Chen¹ , 
• Andrey Yu Zhuravlev⁴ , 
• Bing Pan¹ , 
• Fangchen Zhao^1,5 , 
• Guoxiang Li¹ , 
• Bing Shen⁶ , 
• Zongjun Yin^{1,5 ,  ,} 

• 1 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;

• 2 State Key Laboratory of Critical Earth Material Cycling and Mineral Deposits, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering and Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China;

• 3 Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Anhui Province, Hefei 230601, China;

• 4 Department of Biological Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University Leninskie Gory 1(12), Moscow 119234, Russia;

• 5 Nanjing College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China;

• 6 Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, MOE & School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China