Micropaleontology

Micropaleontology (American spelling; spelled micropalaeontology in European usage) is the branch of paleontology (palaeontology) that studies microfossils, or fossils that require the use of a microscope to see the organism, its morphology and its characteristic details. Microfossil Microfossils are fossils that are generally between 0.001mm and 1 mm in size, the study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. Fossils which can be studied by the naked eye or low-powered magnification, such as a hand lens, are referred to as macrofossils. For example, some colonial organisms, such as Bryozoa (especially the Cheilostomata) have relatively large colonies, but are classified by fine skeletal details of the small individuals of the colony. In another example, many fossil genera of Foraminifera, which are protists are known from shells (called "tests") that were as big as coins, such as the genus Nummulites. Microfossils are a common feature of the geological record, from the Precambrian to the Holocene. They are most common in deposits of marine environments, but also occur in brackish water, fresh water and terrestrial sedimentary deposits. While every kingdom of life is represented in the microfossil record, the most abundant forms are protist skeletons or cysts from the Chrysophyta, Pyrrhophyta, Sarcodina, acritarchs and chitinozoans, together with pollen and spores from the vascular plants. In 2017, fossilized microorganisms, or microfossils, were announced to have been discovered in hydrothermal vent precipitates in the Nuvvuagittuq Belt of Quebec, Canada that may be as old as 4.28 billion years old, the oldest record of life on Earth, suggesting "an almost instantaneous emergence of life" (in a geological time-scale sense), after ocean formation 4.41 billion years ago, and not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago. Nonetheless, life may have started even earlier, at nearly 4.5 billion years ago, as claimed by some researchers.

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Microfossil

A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, such as a hand lens, is referred to as a macrofossil. Microfossils are a common feature of the geological record, from the Precambrian to the Holocene. They are most common in deposits of marine environments, but also occur in brackish water, fresh water and terrestrial sedimentary deposits.

Palynology

Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the microscopic, acid-resistant organic remains and debris produced by a wide variety plants, animals, and Protista that have existed since the late Proterozoic.

Earth science

Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres: the biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere (or lithosphere). Earth science can be considered to be a branch of planetary science, but with a much older history. There are reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences.

Rapid grain boundary diffusion in foraminifera tests biases paleotemperature records

Anders Meibom, Jaroslaw Hubert Stolarski, Arthur Adams, Deyanira Graciela Cisneros Lazaro, Lukas Baumgartner, Jinming Guo

The paleoseawater temperature record from the oxygen isotope compositions of fossil foraminifera tests may be biased by up to about 1 degrees C due to grain-boundary diffusion alone, according to isotope exchange experiments on foraminifera tests. The oxyg ...

SPRINGERNATURE2023

Diatom algae are active and efficient photosynthesizing single cell organisms responsible for a quarter of biomass and a quarter of oxygen release on the Earth surface. Diatoms form an enormously diverse class of microorganisms possessing stiff and strong, ...

ELSEVIER2020

Cellular ultrastructure in benthic foraminifera: general observations and focus on kleptoplasts.

Anders Meibom, Charlotte Madeleine Nicole Lekieffre, Emmanuelle Geslin

Research of the past few decades has revealed a great variability of metabolisms (e.g. adaptation to different microhabitats, feeding strategies, symbiosis, survival to stressful conditions) among benthic foraminiferal species. This metabolic variety is re ...

2018