MICROPALAEONTOLOGY

The science of Micropalaeontology studies the microscopic remains of animals, plants and protists belonging to biological groups mostly of simple organisation and less than 1mm in size. These organisms were extraordinarily abundant and diverse in the past and continue to be so in modern environments, in many cases forming the primary elements in marine, lacustrine and terrestrial organic productivity cycles and food chains. The production of these organisms is a basic component of the global biogeochemical system, intimately linked to present and past environmental change. In this way microfossils are keys to Palaeoceanography and Palaeoclimatology and to understanding the evolution of the biosphere. Our ability to use the pattern of evolution of microfossil groups during the last 400 million years as a means of ascribing relative ages to sedimentary rocks and reconstructing their environmental histories is of great value for understanding global sedimentary geology, and has especially important applications, for example, in the hydrocarbon industry.

Research in Micropalaeontology:

Research work leading to the degrees of Master of Philosophy (two years) and Doctor of Philosophy (three years) can be carried out on calcareous microfossils (Nannofossils, Foraminifera, Ostracods), Palynology and Palynofacies (organic-walled material) and siliceous microfossils (Diatoms, Radiolaria, Silicoflagellates). Current projects concern stratigraphy, distribution, morphology and ultrastructure of microfossils from many areas of the world, including material from the Ocean Drilling Program and from industry. Research is carried out in collaboration with the Environmental Change Research Centre, (Dept. of Geography, UCL), the Natural History Museum (joint Global Change and the Biosphere programme), the British Antarctic Survey, and number of oil companies.

Academic Staff
	Paul Bown Research focuses upon aspects of Calcareous nannoplankton (calcareous-scale-bearing, phytoplanktonic algae) over a variety of timescales including the Jurassic (to present), the K-T boundary and the Eocene, the later particularly in cores recently recovered from Tanzania. More ...
	Michael Kaminski Research focuses upon aspects of agglutinated benthic foraminifera from the Mesozoic to present; classification and taxonomy and use of benthic foraminiferal assemblages for paleoenvironmental analysis; evolutionary processes and the history of marine microfossil communites; biochronology of marine microfossils and calibration of zonal and stage boundaries to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale. More ...
Research Staff
	Marcelle BouDagher-Fadel Early evolutionary history of planktonic foraminifera. Refinement of the biostratigraphy and palaeogeography of the Mesozoic foraminifera of Tethys and the Middle East. Tertiary larger foraminifera of the eastern Mediterranean and the Far East.  More ...
	Jackie Lees Nanoplankton geochemistry
Technical Staff
	Jim Davy   All aspects of laboratory work, including Health and Safety, Microscopy, and Stock Control etc; Scanning Electron Microscope preparation and operation.  More ...

Micropalaeontology Collections

The Micropalaeontology Unit has a fifty year history of teaching and research into microfossils of calcareous (foraminifera, coccoliths, nannoliths, ostracods), siliceous (radiolaria, diatoms) and organic-walled (spores, pollen, dinoflagellates) composition, as a result of which a large collection has developed. This internationally important collection consists of c.250,000 35mm images of microfossils of all types, c.70,000 mounted slides, c.40,000 faunal picked slides, c.20,000 washed sediment residues spanning the geological record from around the globe. The majority of these are aqired from research by past and present UCL staff, PhD students and MSc students.

MIRACLE - Microfossil Image Recovery And Circulation for Learning and Education was a project undertaken to produce a basic guide to the study of Micropalaeontology illustrated with images from the collections.  

© UCL Earth Sciences 2006. This page last modified 8 February, 2008 by WebMaster