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. Rapid technological developments 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, phenomenal growth has occurred in geochemical proxies in shells of foraminifera, and as a result, crucial information about the past climate of the earth is achieved. Foraminifera is the most extensively used marine microfossils in the 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.
1. Introduction
2. Biology and calcification
3. Morphology and classification
4. Evolution and extinction
5. The time-keepers of earth history
6. The recorders of marine environment
7. Geochemical proxies
8. Deep-time climate reconstruction
9. Isotope paleobiology and paleoecology
10. Foraminifera – witness of the evolving earth
Pratul Saraswati has been a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay since 1988, teaching Micropaleontology and Petroleum Geology to postgraduate students. His research area is focused on foraminifera for biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Cenozoic marine sequences. Dr Saraswati has written more than 90 papers in scientific journals and chapters in edited volumes. He has served or still serves as an expert member and in an advisory capacity with several research funding agencies, research institutes, and educational institutions.