Environmental Micropaleontology

Microfossils are ideally suited to environmental studies because their short generation times allow them to respond rapidly to environmental change. This book represents an assessment of the progress made in environmental micropalaeontology and sets out future research directions. The taxa studied are mainly foraminifera, but include arcellaceans, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and ostracodes. The papers themselves range from reviews of applications of particular taxa to specific case studies.

Reconstructing past environments is critical in evaluating modern environmental change and making predictions for the future. Records can be found in a range of natural sources, including microfossils, and their analysis can make important contributions to studies of contemporary global environmental issues such as climate change, water pollution and acidification. This is the first text which aims to explain the practical applications of the analysis of microfossils to undergraduate and graduate students of the earth and environmental sciences. Including pedagogic features such as chapter summaries, highlighted key words, annotated guides to further reading and an appendix of statistical techniques, the book is extensively illustrated throughout and includes a wide range of fully international examples and case studies. This book will be an invaluable guide for students of geography, geology, oceanography, environmental archaeology and environmental science.

Foraminiferal Micropaleontology for Understanding Earth’s History incorporates new findings on taxonomy, classification and biostratigraphy of foraminifera. Foraminifera offer the best geochemical proxies for paleoclimate and paleoenvironment interpretation. The study of foraminifera was promoted by oil exploration due to its exceptional use in subsurface stratigraphy. A rapid technological development in the past 20 years in the field of imaging microfossils and in geochemical microanalysis have added novel information about foraminifera. Foraminiferal Micropaleontology for Understanding Earth’s History builds an understanding of biology, morphology and classification of foraminifera for its varied applications. In the past two decades, a phenomenal growth has occurred in geochemical proxies in shells of foraminifera, and as a result, crucial information about past climate of the earth is achieved. Foraminifera is the most extensively used marine microfossils in deep-time reconstruction of the earth history. Its key applications are in paleoenvironment and paleoclimate interpretation, paleoceanography, and biostratigraphy to continuously improve the Geologic Time Scale. Provides an overview of the Earth history as witnessed and evidenced by foraminifera Discusses a variety of geochemical proxies used in reconstruction of environment, climate and paleobiology of foraminifera Presents a new insight into the morphology and classification of foraminifera by modern tools of x-ray microscopy, quantitative methods, and molecular research

This book will help readers learn the basic skills needed to study microfossils especially those without a formal background in paleontology. It details key principles, explains how to identify different groups of microfossils, and provides insight into their potential applications in solving geologic problems. Basic principles are addressed with examples that explore the strengths and limitations of microfossils and their geological records. This overview provides an understanding of taphonomy and quality of the fossil records, biomineralization and biogeochemistry, taxonomy, concepts of species, and basic concepts of ecology. Readers learn about the major groups of microfossils, including their morphology, ecology, and geologic history. Coverage includes: foraminifera, ostracoda, coccolithophores, pteropods, radiolaria, diatoms, silicoflagellates, conodonts, dinoflagellates, acritarch, and spores and pollens. In this coverage, marine microfossils, and particularly foraminifera, are discussed in more detail compared with the other groups as they continue to play a major role in most scientific investigations. Among the various tracers of earth history, microfossils provide the most diverse kinds of information to earth scientists. This richly illustrated volume will help students and professionals understand microfossils, and provide insight on how to work with them to better understand evolution of life, and age and the paleoenvironment of sedimentary strata.

The reconstruction of ancient marine environments is an important task of the Earth Sciences, of great interest to geology, pure and applied, to oceanography and climatology, as well as to such fields as ecology and evolution. In principle, such reconstructions are based on the actualistic approach of "the present is the key to the past." Since the deciphering of past environmental changes, either nat ural or man-made, has considerable bearing on planning, the past may provide a key to the future. Paleoenvironmental interpretations in the marine realm are based to a great extent on assemblages of fossils recovered from ancient sediments in outcrops and from land-based or submarine drillings. Observable lateral sequences of assemblages in contemporaneous strata, the known or assumed functional or adaptive significance of preserved skeletal struc tures, as well as their evolution through time and space, provide by themselves indications of ancient environmental settings. In some cases even present-day eco logical considerations may be derived from analysis of fossils.

The book is designed to cover the recent researches carried-out by the scholars from across the world. It covers aspects related to Foraminifera, in biostratigraphy and paleoecology, isotopic studies, applicability as bio-indicators in pollution studies, taxonomy of Indo-Pacific assemblages, studies of history of ocean bottom oxygenation and experimental studies; Radiolaria from Antarctic Ocean; Microbalites including Diatoms in studying threats and conservation issues in salt lakes of Western Australia; Ostracoda from freshwater, marginal marine ecosystems from Andaman and Nicobar islands; Coralline-algae from late Eocene rocks of Meghalaya; Zygnematalean algae from across the Permian-Triassic boundary; and Microstructures of egg-shells of vertebrates showing paleobiologic links across the continents. It will serve the postgraduate students choosing Geology as well as researchers in the field of Micropaleontology.