Micropaleontology
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Micropaleontology is the branch of paleontology that studies microfossils, or fossils that require the use of a microscope to see the organism, its morphology and its characteristic details.
Marine microfossils: (diatom, ostracod, radiolarian, sponge spicule, radiolarian, planktonic foraminiferan (two), coccolith)
Diatomaceous earth is a soft, siliceous, sedimentary rock made up of microfossils in the form of the frustules (shells) of single cell diatoms. This sample consists of a mixture of centric (radially symmetric) and pennate (bilaterally symmetric) diatoms. This image of diatomaceous earth particles in water is at a scale of 6.236 pixels/μm, the entire image covers a region of approximately 1.13 by 0.69 mm.
Fusulinid (Triticites) from the Plattsmouth Chert, Red Oak, Iowa (Permian).
Fossil nummulitid foraminiferans showing microspheric and megalospheric individuals; Eocene of the United Arab Emirates; scale in mm.
Coccolith
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Coccoliths are individual plates or scales of calcium carbonate formed by coccolithophores and cover the cell surface arranged in the form of a spherical shell, called a coccosphere.
Micropaleontology
…by some researchers. Micropaleontology can be roughly divided into four areas of study on the basis of microfossil composition: (a) calcareous, as in coccoliths and foraminifera, (b) phosphatic, as in the study of some vertebrates, (c) siliceous, as in diatoms and radiolaria, or (d) organic, as in the pollen…
Scanning electron micrograph of Coccolithus pelagicus, plated with coccoliths
Collapsed coccosphere of Pleurochrysis carterae
Types of coccoliths
Helicoliths of Helicosphaera carteri