Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ciurej, Agnieszka

Titel

Procedures for Obtaining Optimal SEM Images of Coccolithophore Debris in Coccolith Limestones

Ist Teil von

• Acta palaeontologica Polonica, 2010-03, Vol.55 (1), p.169-171

Ort / Verlag

Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences

Erscheinungsjahr

2010

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Coccolith debris in fossil Zooplankton faecal pellets and the mode of its preservation are the unique source of data on the mode of feeding and digestion by ancient zooplankters. The animals are virtually absent in the fossil record in another form than their coprolites. However, minute structural details of coccospheres and their debris in the coccolith limestone are much less legible than in modern sediments. This paper presents how clear SEM images of details of coccolith plates in complete and dismembered coccospheres from fossil Zooplankton faecal pellets can be obtained from thin sections of coccolith limestone. The images allow us to study the structural and compositional details of coccolith plates as well as their arrangements within the coccospheres and fossil faecal pellets.