Radiolarian micropalaeontology: collecting radiolaria

Professor Simon Haslett discusses collecting radiolarian microfossils. Radiolaria are marine single-celled organisms that possess a silica shell and are preserved in the fossil record. They can be collected from sediment accumulating on the sea-floor and retrieved through coring, such as by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). Radiolaria can be used in stratigraphy to date layers of rock and sediment through geological time, and also to reconstruct past environments and establish palaeoclimate history.