59
to remove the mud. All I had left was sand. But that was my goal – the sand-sized
particles were not grains of quartz such as those that comprise the beach sands of
the Outer Banks and the wind-swept dunes behind them. Almost every single grain
was a foram shell. In a handful of that sand were tens of thousands and perhaps
hundreds of thousands of individual shells. Imagine how many such shells there are
at the bottom of the oceans! Another way to understand their abundance is to consider the fact that the pyramids of Egypt are built of limestone blocks that consist
entirely of foram shells cemented together!
You might wonder why anyone would study such seemingly esoteric organisms
as foraminifera. It is because they are very useful for finding energy resources. In
fact, I’ve heard it said that there are more micropaleontologists in the world than all
the other various kinds of paleontologists added together. That may or may not be
true, but it explains why we micropaleontologists are not particularly rare or
unusual beings. Because forams are so abundant, live in all marine environments,
and have fossilizable shells, they are useful for exploring for oil and gas. When a
test-well is drilled, the ground-up rock particles, that are returned to the surface
within a constant stream of mud, often contain undamaged fossil foram shells. An
experienced micropaleontologist can evaluate the shells, identify them and determine the environment in which the sediments containing them were deposited. We
are able to do that by studying the environmental distribution of modern foram
species (Fig. 4.4) and applying the Principle of Uniformitarianism, “The Present is
the Key to the Past”, explained briefly in the Introduction to this book. Because
Fig. 4.4 Graduate student, Ray Tichenor, left, sampling sediment containing living foraminifera
in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Research colleague, Andy Kemp (right) is helping to survey in
the elevation of the sample site. (Image by S.J. Culver)
4 Barrier Island Breakdown: The Ephemeral Outer Banks of North Carolina
to remove the mud. All I had left was sand. But that was my goal – the sand-sized
particles were not grains of quartz such as those that comprise the beach sands of
the Outer Banks and the wind-swept dunes behind them. Almost every single grain
was a foram shell. In a handful of that sand were tens of thousands and perhaps
hundreds of thousands of individual shells. Imagine how many such shells there are
at the bottom of the oceans! Another way to understand their abundance is to consider the fact that the pyramids of Egypt are built of limestone blocks that consist
entirely of foram shells cemented together!
You might wonder why anyone would study such seemingly esoteric organisms
as foraminifera. It is because they are very useful for finding energy resources. In
fact, I’ve heard it said that there are more micropaleontologists in the world than all
the other various kinds of paleontologists added together. That may or may not be
true, but it explains why we micropaleontologists are not particularly rare or
unusual beings. Because forams are so abundant, live in all marine environments,
and have fossilizable shells, they are useful for exploring for oil and gas. When a
test-well is drilled, the ground-up rock particles, that are returned to the surface
within a constant stream of mud, often contain undamaged fossil foram shells. An
experienced micropaleontologist can evaluate the shells, identify them and determine the environment in which the sediments containing them were deposited. We
are able to do that by studying the environmental distribution of modern foram
species (Fig. 4.4) and applying the Principle of Uniformitarianism, “The Present is
the Key to the Past”, explained briefly in the Introduction to this book. Because
Fig. 4.4 Graduate student, Ray Tichenor, left, sampling sediment containing living foraminifera
in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina. Research colleague, Andy Kemp (right) is helping to survey in
the elevation of the sample site. (Image by S.J. Culver)
4 Barrier Island Breakdown: The Ephemeral Outer Banks of North Carolina