Research Information System
MICROPALEONTOLOGY, vol.60, pp.211-398, 2014 (SCI-Expanded)
Benthic foraminifera are single-celled organisms abundantly found in all kind of marine environments from brackish estuaries to the deep ocean basins at all latitudes. Foraminifera are covered with an organic test which accumulate in the sediment and make up a significant amount of sedimentary rock. Many species have well defined salinity and temperature preferences making them particularly useful for reconstructing ecological changes occured in the past. The fossil tests not only used for paleoenvironmental interpretition, but also for biostratigraphy and age-dating. Anthropogenic pollution or environmental factors may cuase abnormal development of the test, such as aberrant chamber shape and size, twisted or distorted chamber arrangement, multiple apertures, twin, triplet and even quadruplet forms. These abnormalities are commonly used as indicators of pollution.