Nano fossils and it’s significance in nano geo-science

1. SEMINAR ON
NANOFOSSILS AND THEIR
SIGNIFICANCE

2. CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 FOSSILS
 MICROFOSSILS
 NANOFOSSILS
 COCCOLITH
 HOLOCOCCOLITH
 CALCAREOUS NANOFOSSILS
 APPLICATIONS OF NANOFOSSILS
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES

3. INTRODUCTION
o Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of
animals, plants and other organisms from the
remote past
o These are the tools to understand the past
events of the Earth
o It helps to depict the past geoenvironment like
temperature,humidity, turbidity, paleoecology
etc.
o The totality of fossils, both discovered and
undiscovered, and their placement in
fossiliferous (fossil-containing) rock formations
and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil
record

4. CLASSIFICATION OF FOSSILS
Macrofossils
• Plant fossils
• Vertebrate fossils
• Invertebrate fossils
Microfossils
Nanofossils

5. MICRO FOSSILS
 Microfossils are the remains of tiny animals and
plants found in rocks and sediments
 Pollen, spores, foraminifera, dinoflagellates,
radiolarins are examples
 Size of microfossils range between 50 to 500 milli
microns
 They are observed under Paleontological microscope
such as Binocular, Trinocular,and Phase contrast
microscopes.

6. NANO FOSSILS
 These are the fossils with the size ranging from
1 nm to 100 nm and Planktonic in nature.
 Plankton always float near the surface of
water.
 Plankton are known as nano plankton if its
size is between 1-100nm.
 Nano planktons are mainly distributed in
ocean environment, but some are terrestrial.
 Nanofossils are studied under Electron
microscope. ie, SEM,TEM etc..
 Nanofossils are mainly of Coccoliths and
Calcareous nanofossils.

8. COCCOLITH
 Thomas Huxley was the first person to observe
coccoliths in modern marine sediments.
 Coccoliths are individual plates of calcium
carbonate formed by coccolithophores, which are
arranged around them in a coccosphere.
 Individual plates of calcium carbonates formed by
coccolithophores, which is formed within the cell in
vescicles are derived from the golgi body.
 There are two main types of coccoliths :-
heterococcoliths and holococcoliths.
 Heterococcoliths are formed by radial array of elaborately
shaped crystal units.

9. SOME OF THE COCCOLITH STRUCTURE WITH
THEIR FEATURES AND RANGE
 Reticulofenestra - elliptical, central area is open or
closed. Age: eocene to recent.
 Cyclicargolithus – circular with narrow central area
features. Age: eocene to late miocene.
 Pseudoemiliania – distal shield with numerous slits.
Age: late pliocene.
 Geophyrocapsa- bridges over central area.
Age: pliocene.
 Noelaerhobdus – contains Paratetethyan endemic with
large spine. Age: late miocene.
 Bekelithella – contains Paratethyan endemic with
circlet of spines. Age: miocene.
 Emiliania – sites between all distal shield elements.
Age: miocene

12. HOLOCOCCOLITH
 Holococcoliths are formed by minute
calcite rhombohedral crystals, arranged in
continuous arrays.
 They are produced during the haploid phase.
 Diverse holococcolith assemblages have
been described from cretaceous and paleogene.
 They are virtually absent from nanogene nanofloras.

13. SOME OF THE HOLOCOCCOLITHS
ARE SHOWN BELOW
Coccosphere of Syacrosphaera pulchra holococcoliths (1mµ)
Coccosphere of Helicosphaera carteri holococcoliths (1mµ)

14. Combination coccosphere of Calcidiscus quadriperforatus (2mµ)
Fossil holococcoliths - Syracolithus schilleri (2mµ)

15. CALCAREOUS NANO FOSSILS
 These are the remains of golden brown, single
celled algae, also known as ‘nanos’.
 It is one of the primary organisms at the base
of the food chain.
 Slowly covered by remains of other plants
and animals and bits of mud and sand.
 Preserved in rocks; can be part of a
limestone or shale.
 Age: Around 200 m.y. from triassic.

16. DIAGRAMATIC STRUCTURE OF CALCAREOUS NANO
FOSSILS
Above diagram from Bown,P.(Ed.), 1998, Calcareous Nanofossil
Biostratigraphy. Chapman and Hall.

17. APPLICATIONS OF NANOFOSSILS
 Used in forensic studies
e.g. clay scraped from the shoes of a murder suspect in
England contained calcareous nanofossil.
 A very large number of individual coccoliths may be
preserved in a tiny amount of sediment. Hence only
very small quantities of sample are needed to produce
statistically valid results.
 Used to determine the origin of white chalk that was
used to prepare the surfaces of Medieval wooden
sculptures and panels before painting.
 Calcareous nanofossils can be used to help determine
the temperature and current patterns of ancient oceans.
 Nanofossils are used in various fields such as a
biostratigraphic marker, both in oceanographic
research and in industry related applications.

18. CONCLUSION
 Fossils act as tools to derive information about
geological past and is classified according to its size
and nature.
 Fossils whose size ranges from 1 to 100 nm are
known as ‘nanofossils’
 Nanofossils are classified depending upon its
composition of morphological features and
chemical decomposition.
 Calcareous nanofossils, coccoliths and holococcoliths
are some of the nanofossils.
 Nanofossils are used in various fields such as a
biostratigraphic marker, both in oceanographic
research and in industry related applications.
 This diversification may be related to changes in
environmental determinants such as sea level,
surface water temperatures, nutrient availability
and water stratification.

19. REFERENCES
INA – International Nanoplankton
Association http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/in
a/
UCL Earth Sciences http://www.es.ucl.ac.uk/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nanofossil
www.teara.govt.nz/en/fossils/page-7
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccolith
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/holococcolith
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/calcareousnanofossils
geology.cr.usgs.gov/capabilities/paleoanal/microfo-
ssils/nano/tech.html