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Topic: Microfossils

	Micropaleontology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Microfossils are fossils generally smaller than 1 mm, whose study requires the use of light microscopy or scanning electron microscopy.
		Microfossils are a common feature of the geological record, from the Precambrian to the Quaternary, and are found in most marine and terrestrial sediments.
		While every Kingdom of life is represented in the microfossil record, the most abundant forms are protist skeletons or cysts from the phyla Chrysophyta, Pyrrhophyta, Sarcodina, acritarchs and chitinozoans together with pollen and spores from vascular plants.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Micropaleontology (382 words)

	GeoFact No. 24, Tiny Hidden Treasures--The Microfossils of Ohio
		Microfossils include a wide variety of minute organisms, including single-celled plants and animals, small pieces of larger organisms such as teeth and scales, and pollen and spores.
		Microfossils are prepared using several different techniques depending on the origin and composition of the fossil and on the chemistry and hardness of the enclosing rock (matrix).
		Microfossils can be used for correlations within and between continents in order to show whether or not a body of rock was deposited at the same time in different regions.
	www.dnr.state.oh.us /geosurvey/geo_fact/geo_f24.htm (1843 words)

	MICROFOSSILS
		Microfossils are a heterogeneous bunch of fossil remains studied as a single discipline because rock samples must be processed in certain ways to remove them and microscopes must be used to study them.
		Thus, microfossils, unlike other kinds of fossils, are not grouped according to their relationships to one another, but only because of their generally small size and methods of study.
		Microfossils are perhaps the most important group of all fossils — they are extremely useful in age-dating, correlation and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, all important in the oil, mining, engineering, and environmental industries, as well as in general geology.
	www.ucmp.berkeley.edu /fosrec/Lipps1.html (2560 words)

	Micropaleontology (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Microfossils are fossils generally smaller than 1millimetre, whose study requires the use of light microscopy or SEM.
		Microfossils are a common feature of the geologic timescale, from the Precambrian to the Quaternary, and are found in most ocean and terrestrial sediments.
		Sediment or rock samples are collected from either cores or outcrops, and the microfossils they contain extracted by a variety of physical and chemical laboratory techniques, including sieving, density seperation by centrifuge, and chemical digestion of the unwanted fraction.
	read-and-go.hopto.org /Botany/Micropaleontology.html (302 words)

	Research Papers - Climates and Landscapes from Plant Fossils of the Quaternary (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Microfossils are tiny, but recognizable, bits of plant matter such as pollen grains and spores, enclosing walls of algae and fungi and remains of microscopic animals, all invisible to the unaided eye, but easily recognized in a microscope.
		Unlike macrofossils that are concentrated near the source of the material, microfossils, because of their tiny size, can be transported to, and preserved in any part of a body of water including the middle of large lakes and the bottom of the ocean.
		Microfossils and macrofossils such as net-leaved dwarf willow (Salix reticulata) of this interval and slightly later show that plants typical of alpine environments once grew near sea level and the climate was likely much colder than today.
	www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca /nh_papers/plantfossils.html (3535 words)

	Planetary Society: Headline for 8/4/00
		Microfossils, as you might expect, are tiny shells produced by microscopic organisms.
		A combination of microfossils in the ejecta layer, plus a radiometric date from the impact glass, pinned down the time of the impact at approximately 35 million years ago, in the late-Eocene epoch of geological time.
		We found microfossils from different geologic ages mixed together in the ejecta layer; presumably these were scrambled by the impact shock.
	www.planetary.org /html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2000/bolides.html (1580 words)

	The World of Microfossils (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Microfossils are just a further classification of fossils.
		Bacterial microfossils found in Geiseltal lignites were at least 50 million years old.
		Examples of microfossils include foraminifers, radiolarians, ostracods, conodonts, otoliths, silicoflagellates, diatoms, coccoliths, mites, bacteria, pollen and spores.
	www.carleton.ca /Museum/2001_applications_kj/WorldOfMicrofossils.html (96 words)

	FOSSILS - MICROFOSSILS - 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
		Microfossils therefore help the field geologist to work out correctly the sequence of rocks and their geological structure in areas where the earth's crust is strongly contorted and dislocated or obscured by vegetation or young deposits.
		Planktonic microfossils (freely floating in life) are widely distributed throughout the oceans by currents and similar assemblages of species are found in rocks of the same age in different parts of the world.
		Microfossils are used by oil exploration geologists in their surveys of possible oil fields.
	www.teara.govt.nz /1966/F/Fossils/Microfossils/en (521 words)

	COLLECTION (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Recovery of microfossils from limestones involves several methods, depending chiefly on the chemical composition of the microfossils and the amount of silica and dolomite in the limestone.
		Removal of microfossils from cherts and from other siliceous sediments Is difficult, but may be achieved by treating the sample with hydrofluoric acid vapor derived from mixing CaF and H2S04 in a crucible in which the sample is suspended.
		As the moistened brush with the microfossil is touched to the adhesive-coated slide surface, the moisture of the brush momentarily dissolves the adhesive, allowing the fossil to adhere to the slide.
	members.aol.com /fossiljim/prep.htm (2961 words)

	OSETI III: Evidence for Biomarkers and Microfossils in Ancient Rocks and Meteorites
		The detection by McKay et al.1 of chemical biomarkers and possible microfossils in the ancient Mars meteorite (ALH84001) enhanced interest in the possibility of microbial life on other bodies of the Solar System and triggered the development of the rapidly emerging field of Astrobiology.
		Many of the forms found in-situ in the Murchison, Efremovka, and Orgueil carbonaceous meteorites are strikingly similar to microfossils of coccoid bacteria, cyanobacteria and fungi such as we have found in the Cambrian phosphorites of Khubsugul, Mongolia and high carbon Phanerozoic and Precambrian rocks of the Siberian and Russian Platforms.
		This paper presents SEM images of microfossils that exhibit the characteristics of distinct stages of microbial life cycles of Nostocacean cyanobacteria (including trichomes, spores, and hormogonia) and ecological systems similar to those found in permafrost and cryoconite communities of Antarctica and Siberia.
	www.coseti.org /4273-35.htm (538 words)

	Microfossils (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Microfossils can be used for biozonation and age-dating as well as palaeoenvironmental interpretation.
		Nannopalaeontology covers the study of nannofossils, which are the smallest of the microfossil groups examined routinely.
		These organic-walled microfossils are found abundantly in non-marine and transitional marine environments, becoming less common in fully marine situations.
	www.millenni.demon.co.uk /microfos.htm (2265 words)

	Micropaleontology
		The science of Micropalaeontology is the study of microfossils, the microscopic remains of animals, plants and protists belonging mostly to biological groups of simple organisation (single cell) and less than a millimetre in size.
		Microfossils span the marine environment from the abyssal plains of the deep sea to the salt marshes of the inter-tidal zone, the freshwater aquatic environments of rivers and lakes and the terrestrial realm.
		In this core we can see: a) in the lower part, pre-extinction sediments that contained microfossils from the age of the dinosaurs, b) in the middle, dust, ashes and other material blasted from the collision, and c) at the top, sediments containing microfossils of organisms that survived or evolved afterwards.
	www.es.ucl.ac.uk /department/collections/RockRoom/micropaleo.htm (1129 words)

	[No title]
		There are many kinds of microfossils ranging from terrestrial pollen spores to conodonts (toothlike fossil elements in form but not in function, produced by marine worms) to shells of calcareous marine organisms such as mollusks, pelecypods, ostracods, and foraminifera (forams).
		Regardless of specialty, given only the microfossils and little other solid evidence, a micropaleonologist is a forensic geologist who applies scientific knowledge and logical reasoning to interpret and reconstruct events of the past.
		The microfossil part of the record can contain the potential and capacity to provide far more information than may at first be evident on the surface of a study.
	pubs.usgs.gov /of/of02-192/of02-192.txt (3964 words)

	Microfossil Reference (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Paleoecological microfossils other than pollen which can be found in standard pollen preparations include: moss spores, fungi, algae, rhizopods, and other palynomorphs.
		We have noted abrupt changes in frequency of fungal hyphae in microfossil preparations in Arctic peat sediments, which may be correlated with changes in carbon accumulation.
		If the variations in microfossils can be correlated with long term variations in peat vegetation and climate, we will have developed a powerful tool for studying the relationship between vegetation, carbon accumulation rates, and climate.
	www.ncdc.noaa.gov /paleo/parcs/microfos.html (438 words)

	P e l l a M u s e u m
		Microfossils are the tiny remains of bacteria, protists, fungi, animals, and plants.
		Microfossils, unlike other kinds of fossils, are not grouped according to their relationships to one another, but only because of their generally small size and methods of study.
		Most simply live their lives unknown to us but contributing enormously to our well being through the production of oxygen, the degradation of waste materials, recycling of nutrients, production of food, and a multitude of other functions, some of which take place in our own bodies.
	www.pellamuseum.org /Pella_Museum/Micro.htm (969 words)

	ABSTRACT: Paleoecology of a groundwater outflow using siliceous microfossils. (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Siliceous microfossils, including diatoms, chrysophyte cysts, phytoliths and plates of testate amoebae (Rhizopoda), were identified and enumerated.
		Over the ~160-year period, siliceous remains track a gradual transition from a slow river environment in the early 1800s to a spring-fed pond environment by the late-1800s, hurricane-induced flooding, and the eventual slowing and drying of the spring in the latter half of the twentieth century.
		These approaches show promise for relating changes in siliceous microfossils to human impacts and natural changes in springhabitats, their catchments and the quality of groundwater.
	cgrg.geog.uvic.ca /abstracts/ReaviePaleoecologyPaleoecological.html (362 words)

	Palynologist (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		A palynologist is a person who examines minute microfossils and especially pollen grains and spores liberated from plant communities living in the geological past.
		Palynology is the study of organic (i.e., non-mineralized) microfossils, especially those in sediments, either of terrestrial (land), freshwater, or marine (sea) origin.
		These microfossils are very small, generally falling into the 5 - 500 micro-millimetre range, and are found in rocks of all geological ages, beginning about 1.4 billion years ago in the late Precambrian Eon right up to the present.
	www.science.uwaterloo.ca /earth/geoscience/beaudoin.html (2500 words)

	paleolab13microfossils
		Microfossils may be small, but they are tremendously useful to paleontologists.
		This is because microfossils are 1) so abundant that statistics can be applied to their distributions; 2) tiny samples yield thousands of specimens, and 3) many can be used not only for paleoecological information but also for geochemical information (stable and radiogenic isotope data, trace elements, heavy metals...many possibilities here to explore).
		Radiolarians are important microfossils in paleoclimate analysis, and have been used to reconstruct oxygen isotope records of the past conditions of the oceans, just as has been done with forams.
	www.personal.kent.edu /%7Ealisonjs/paleo/paleolab13microfossils.htm (906 words)

	Microfossils in sediments from beneath Siple Ice Dome (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		The objective was to use the microfossils as a dating tool to determine the time when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) did not exist.
		Most of the microfossils were so fragmented that identification, even to the generic level, was not possible, although some were complete enough to suggest an age.
		Preliminary findings suggest that the youngest microfossils are late Miocene in age leading to the tentative conclusion that the WAIS probably formed during the late Miocene.
	igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov /wais/pastmeetings/abstracts00/Burckle.htm (265 words)

	Starting a microfossil collection
		It is very easy to carry out statistical work on the microfossils because your sample of sediment is a random sample from a known horizon.
		For microfossils you will need about 500g to 1 kg of clay, a few hundred grams of chalk or marl band should be enough.
		It is different to working with macrofossils; you cannot tell if you -,et a bit of one sample into the next, and if you loose the label you cannot rely on your memory or experience to sort out any mix ups.
	www.fortunecity.com /greenfield/ecolodge/25/microf~1.htm (2690 words)

	Some of the types of microfossils and nannofossils found in the Dorset, UK Mesozoic sediments
		The numbers of genera and species of microfossils and nannofossils, which have been detected in the Mesozoic sediments along the Dorset coast, are varied and complex.
		There is little doubt that the microfossils and nannofossils, present in rocks and sediments, are the largest part of the geological record, in terms of variety and numbers of individual past forms of life.
		Mainly the images of these microfossils on the cellulose lacquer peels are buried in the kerogen and/or encrusted with coccoliths or coccolithophores.
	www.microscopy-uk.org.uk /mag/artapr99/kamast3.html (1916 words)

	USING MICROFOSSILS IN PETROLEUM EXPLORATION
		Microfossils on the other hand, by virtue of their small size, can be recovered whole.
		Microfossils also happen to be abundant, especially in marine rocks which are the most common form of sedimentary rock in the crust of the Earth.
		Because of the large variation in thickness across growth faults, microfossils are extremely useful in correlating time equivalent horizons from one side to the other.
	www.ucmp.berkeley.edu /fosrec/ONeill.html (2305 words)

	PRESERVATION OF NEOPROTEROZOIC DOUSHANTUO PHOSPHATIZED MICROFOSSILS FROM SOUTHWESTERN CHINA
		Doushantuo phosphatized microfossils have received considerable attention with the realization that they may retain evidence of the developmental forms of the earliest animals.
		Microfossils were subject to as many as 7 taphonomic phases during preservation.
		Generally the relatively refractory structural-organic layers surrounding organisms such as algal cell walls, acritarch organic walls, and embryo envelopes are preserved as intact organic residue and partly replaced with euhedral crystalline apatite, commonly with fibrous apatite crystals encrusted perpendicularly on one or both sides of these layers.
	gsa.confex.com /gsa/2003AM/finalprogram/abstract_67211.htm (385 words)

	PALYNOLOGY DEFINITIONS
		In a broader sense, other microfossils sometimes are given "courtesy appointments" as "palynomorphs" even they do not survive routine pollen-extraction procedures.
		These "other microfossils" have siliceous, calcareous, phosphatic, or cellulose walls, and most are marine or freshwater organisms, or parts thereof.
		Opaline phytoliths are neither palynomorphs nor aquatic microfossils, being the siliceous remains of certain cells of higher plants.
	www.geo.arizona.edu /palynology/ppalydef.html (1259 words)

	Microfossil Lab (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Microfossils are fossils that are too small to be studied without the aid of a microscope.
		Microfossils are useful for determining the age of sedimentary rocks, and for interpreting the environment in which the sediments were deposited.
		Microfossils have been used for biostratigraphic correlation with great success in the petroleum industry.
	gpc.edu /~pgore/geology/historical_lab/microfossils.php (1336 words)

	Invertebrate Fossils - Part of Kuban's Paleo Place
		Included are microfossils as well as major invertebrate groups such as corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, molluscs, crinoids, insects, and the ever-popular trilobites.
		Despite their small size, microfossils are important in several areas of paleontology, including studies of stratigraphy, paleoenvironments, and paleoclimates.
		Microfossils are often studied in drill cores by the oil industry for producing biostratigraphic correlations that help locate oil deposits.
	paleo.cc /kpaleo/paleinve.htm (576 words)

	Microfossils (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Microfossils are small fossils that are below the limit of vision of the naked eye.
		Consequently, "microfossils" are not a meaningful biological group but arbitrary category of all those small organisms that are preserved in the fossil record but cannot be studied without microscope.
		Because of their size-based definition, "microfossils" are a phylogentically meaningless unit (i.e., highly polyphyletic).
	www.winona.edu /geology/paleo/labs/microfossils.htm (155 words)

	Graptolites and early vascular land plants.
		Recognition of the taxonomic affinity of these microfossils is very important because tracheids are one of the fundamental elements of the xylem and are treated as a hallmark of the vascular plants.
		In the course of my studies of Ordovician and Silurian organic microfossils I have found, however, an aberrant benthic graptolite of an uncertain taxonomic position.
		This form, described as Maenniligraptus ursulae Mierzejewski, 1985, derives from a calcareous erratic boulder of Ordovician age found in Poland on the Baltic beach (Mierzejewski 1985).
	microfossils.graptolite.net /tracheids.html (507 words)

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