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. While every kingdom of life is represented in the microfossil record, the most abundant forms are protist skeletons or microbial cysts from the Chrysophyta, Pyrrhophyta, Sarcodina, acritarchs and chitinozoans, together with pollen and spores from the vascular plants.
A microfossil is a descriptive term applied to fossilized plants and animals whose size is just at or below the level at which the fossil can be analyzed by the naked eye. A commonly applied cutoff point between "micro" and "macro" fossils is 1 mm. Microfossils may either be complete (or near-complete) organisms in themselves (such as the marine plankters foraminifera and coccolithophores) or component parts (such as small teeth or spores) of larger animals or plants. Microfossils are of critical importance as a reservoir of paleoclimate information, and are also commonly used by biostratigraphers to assist in the correlation of rock units.
Microfossils are found in rocks and sediments as the microscopic remains of what were once life forms such as plants, animals, fungus, protists, bacteria and archaea. Terrestrial microfossils include pollen and spores. Marine microfossils found in marine sediments are the most common microfossils. Everywhere in the oceans, microscopic protist organisms multiply prolifically, and many grow tiny skeletons which readily fossilise. These include foraminifera, dinoflagellates and radiolarians.
Cette page est générée automatiquement et peut contenir des informations qui ne sont pas correctes, complètes, à jour ou pertinentes par rapport à votre recherche. Il en va de même pour toutes les autres pages de ce site. Veillez à vérifier les informations auprès des sources officielles de l'EPFL.
Les chitinozoaires (ou chitinozoa de chitine, du gr. kheitôn, tunique et zôon, animal) forment un groupe aujourd'hui disparu de microfossiles marins à paroi organique (palynomorphes) d'affinité biologique incertaine. Palynomorphes connus depuis l'Ordovicien inférieur jusqu'au Dévonien supérieur, en grand nombre dès l'Arénig, disparaissent au Strunien. Leur taille va diminuant, de 500 μm à 120 à-50 à μm, ce qui en fait un bon outil stratigraphique.
vignette|Répartition des sédiments marins dans l'Océan mondial. Jaune : sédiments carbonatés biogènes ; brun : argiles rouges des grands fonds ; orange : sédiments terrigènes ; blanc : sédiments des marges continentales ; vert : sédiments siliceux biogènes ; bleu : sédiments glaciaires. La sédimentation marine comprend tous les processus conduisant à la formation de sédiments marins (sédimentation littorale ou côtière, océanique, bathyale, abyssale, etc.).
La palynologie est l'étude des grains de pollen et spores actuels mais aussi des palynomorphes (cellules et organismes microscopiques à parois organiques). La science qui étudie les palynomorphes fossiles est la paléopalynologie. À l’intersection de l’archéologie, de la botanique, de l’ethnologie et des sciences agronomiques, la palynologie fait partie de l’archéobotanique, un ensemble de disciplines (carpologie, anthracologie) qui s’intéressent aux vestiges d’origine végétale. [[Image:Pollen (Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888).
Plonge dans la biominéralisation de la silice chez les diatomées, les radiolaires et les éponges, explorant leur origine, leur distribution et leur impact sur le cycle de la silice de l'océan.
Explore la diversité et la structure des spicules et des squelettes d'éponges, y compris le processus de biominéralisation et les archives environnementales potentielles qu'ils fournissent.
Objectives The endosymbiosis with Symbiodiniaceae is key to the ecological success of reef-building corals. However, climate change is threatening to destabilize this symbiosis on a global scale. Most studies looking into the response of corals to heat str ...
London2024
, , , , ,
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, ...