1. FORAMINIFERA: PART 1 - AN INTRODUCTION

2. FORAMINIFERA Single-celled Amoeba- like Testate & usually multichambered Net-like pseudopods –Anastomosing & –Reticulating Dimorphic life cycles are complex Nearly 4 000 genera known 60 000 species known!

3. LIVE FORAM Note pseudopodia capturing food particles Note multichambered calcareous skeleton

4. MULTICHAMBERED FORAM SKELETON

5. DIFFERENT SPECIES OF FORAMS

6. FORAMINIFERA 50 to 60 species of living planktic forams Many thousands of living benthic species ~1 000+ genera living Up to 1 million individuals per square metre benthos Movement-feeding categories: –Crawling: Mudeaters (detritus feeders) Micropredators Herbivores –Burrowing mudeaters –Reclining suspension feeders –Encrusting suspension feeders

7. Microscopes used in Studies Transmitted light – whole mounts Transmitted light – thin sections Reflected light SEM

8. Sample Preparation Study unconsolidated sediments as the 1 st choice –Wash (heat & baking soda) any fines from sediments –Sieve coarse and separate sand fractions –Juveniles tend to look alike – even among different genera, so pick 0.125 mm fraction & above Some shale can be broken down by heating in water & soaking in organic solvents. Then, treated as above. Other rocks: Simply boiling crushed samples with baking soda helps to release some sediment Thin sections may be resorted to, but usually thin section studies not very effective, except for fusulinids & a few other kinds of forams.

9. Generalized History Based on Wall Composition & Structure Note: –Early organic walled & arenaceous forams in Cambrian –Calcareous microgranular forams in Ordovician –Porcelaneous in Carboniferous –Hyaline in Permian –Planktic in Late Jurassic –Nummulitids = Late K to Early Cenozoic

10. Review Early History of Forams

11. Review Later History of Forams

12. CHALK = FORAMS IN A "FINE-GRAINED MATRIX"

13. Application of Foram Studies Very useful indicators for –Biostratigraphy Dating Correlation –Paleoenvironments Depths Climates Habitats Paloeautecology (species) & paleosynecology (community) –Evolution Gradualistic phenomena Punctuated equilibrium examples

14. CLIMATE CHANGES INTERPRETED FROM DEEP-SEA CORES Identification of planktic foraminiferal species –Date layers in deep-sea cores. –Plotting the abundance of cold and warm climate species from core samples indicates climatic changes through time.

15. CLIMATE CHANGES INTERPRETED FROM DEEP-SEA CORES O18/O16 ratios from used to determine –Paleotemperature changes with planktic species & –Ice-volume changes with benthic species Triserial, planktic

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