Nacre tablets of mollusks develop two kinds of features when either the calcium carbonate
or the organic portions are removed:(1) parallel lineations (vermiculations) formed by
elongated carbonate rods, and (2) hourglass patterns, which appear in high relief when
etched or in low relief if bleached. In untreated tablets, SEM and AFM data show that
vermiculations correspond to aligned and fused aragonite nanogloblules, which are partly
surrounded by thin organic pellicles. EBSD mapping of the surfaces of tablets indicates that …