Foraminifera

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Foraminifera
Marcelle BouDagher-Fadel
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HOW TO RECOGNIZE A PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA

• By its simplicity

No plugs No pillars No canal system
Lacks the additional skeletal Structures
characteristics of Benthic foraminifera
Aperture simple Although the aperture may be
modified exteriorly by apertural lips, portici,
tegillum.)
No internal structure, or tooth-plates in
thin sections or solid, lips sticking out or in
from the simple aperture
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Planktic (planktonic) foraminifera can
permanently float or drift in the water column.
They are very abundant in inner to outer neritic
sediments
They are widespread and have had rapidly evolving
lineages
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Wall texture of planktonic foraminifera
Spinose
Hastigerina
Cancellate - spinose
cancellate
Globigernoides
muricate
smooth
Pulleniatina
Morozovella
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Appearance of first planktonic foraminifera
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elongate chamber
keel
extensions
biserial
Muricae fusing
wide umbilicus
Large perforations
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Umbilical view
Dorsal apertures
keel
spines
Dorsal view
Globorotalia
Globigerinoides
Peripheral view
Umbilical view
aperture
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• Planktic/Benthic
• Paleodepth planktic forams not in coastal zones
  (neritic), P/B gtgt100 in open ocean
• Dissolution planktic forams fragment, dissolve
  before benthics deep-sea floor low P/B values
  indicate depth below lysocline
• Surface productivity more difficult, but at
  higher food supply productivity (or in shallower
  waters) more benthic foraminifera

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BouDagher-Fadel, M.K., Banner, F.T. and
Whittaker, J.E., 1997. Early Evolutionary History
of Planktonic Foraminifera, British
Micropalaeontological Society Publication Series,
Chapman and Hall Publishers, pp 269. Haynes,
J.R., 1981. Foraminifera. MacMillan, London, pp
433.