Development of tools for determining the sources of rare earth elements (REE) in conodont apatite
Diagenetic uptake of REEs by conodonts occurs from shallow suboxic zone to deep burial zone
Most conodonts in Ordovician strata of South China yield strongly lithogenous REE signatures
Conodont apatite frequently does not preserve a recognizable hydrogenous REE signal
Our findings suggest that many earlier studies of REEs in bioapatite will require re-evaluation