Micropaleontology is a discipline of the Earth Sciences and is devoted to the study of microfossils. Microfossils are particularly important for the relative dating of rocks (biostratigraphy) and for paleoecological, paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatic and paleobiogeographic reconstructions and are widely applied in petroleum geology, paleoceanography and biomonitoring. The course is designed to:

1) advance the knowledge on the identification of the major microfossil groups;

2) provide an overview of the potential applications of Micropaleontology to Earth and Environmental Sciences;

 3) offer a background for the stratigraphical interpretation of sedimentary sequence and events’ dating;

4) apply the main microfossil groups to the paleoenvironmental reconstructions;

5) offer useful insights for addressing environmental issues and for the development of georesources;

6) present methodologies and protocols for the application of microfossils as bioindicators of the environmental quality in marine and transitional marine waters and to the environmental biomonitoring.

Course presentation, learning objectives, and materials.

Introduction to micropaleontology

Systematic Micropaleontology: foraminifera, calcareous nannoplankton, ostracodes, pteropods, calpionellids, calcareous algae, bryozoa, radiolaria, diatoms, and silicoflagellates, ebridians, conodonts, dinoflagellates, acritarchs, tasmanitids, chitinozoa, spores and pollen.

Microfossils’ guide. Assemblages. Biostratigraphic units. Biostratigraphic scales and correlations. Geological time scale.

Paleoecological, paleogeographic, paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic interpretations.

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

Environmental and georesources applications of Micropaleontology.

Biomonitoring. Metabarcoding applied to environmental biomonitoring.

Field and lab methodological procedures in Micropaleontology.

Identification of the main microfossil groups.

Educational field trip and laboratory activities.

Knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course, the student must have gained the basic knowledge in the field of Micropaleontology, Stratigraphy, Paleoecology, Paleoceanography and Environmental Biomonitoring. The student will also master the ability to recognize the main groups of microfossils and to identify the most appropriate methods of micropaleontological analyses for the different stratigraphic intervals and geological contexts as well as biomonitoring. These skills will be verified through a written test.

Applying knowledge and understanding. The student must correctly use paleontological and micropaleontological terminology. In particular, it must be able to identify the main groups of microfossils, to perform a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and a biostratigraphic analysis and to assess the environmental quality of marine and transitional marine waters. These skills will be assessed through a written test.

Making judgements. The student must critically evaluate and select the most appropriate microfossil for environmental, paleoenvironmental paleoceanographical and paleoclimatic reconstruction, and biostratigraphic analyses. These skills will be verified with the written test and a microscopic session.

Communication skills. The student will be able to describe, synthesize and present a scientific article in English.

Learning skills. The student must be able to build the own path of scientific growth in the paleontological and micropaleontological field in a critical and autonomous way by use the acquired knowledge. These abilities, as far as possible, will be stimulated by the lecturer.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Field and laboratory exercises.

Teaching

The course will take place through a continuous interaction between lectures, field and laboratory exercises and microscopic sessions.

Innovative teaching methods

The course includes:
- frontal lectures;
- group work and preparation of a presentation on the applications of selected microfossil groups;
- participated classes in which the presented works will be discussed.

Innovative teaching

The face-to-face teaching method will be enriched with individual and group exercises and insights that students will carry out using the University's Moodle platform. Some topics of the course will be treated following the practice of the "flipped lesson".

Attendance

No obligations.

Course books

Armstrong, H.A. and Brasier, M.D., 2006. Microfossils, Blackwell Publishing.

Hag, B.U. and Boersma, A., 1978. Introduction to Marine Micropaleontology, Elsevier.

Lipps, J.H., 1993. Fossil Prokaryotes and Protists. Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Martin, R., 2000. Environmental Micropaleontology: The Application of Microfossils to Environmental Geology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Saraswati, P.K. and Srinivasan, M.S., 2016. Micropaleontology: Principles and Applications.

Assessment

The assessment consists of a written exam with ten open questions including comments on graphs and figures. This method of examination is chosen as it allows to adequately verify the preparation of the student. The evaluation criteria are: knowledge of micropaleontological concepts, microfossils and their application including biomonitoring, level of accuracy and specificity of the answer, and master of a technical language. Each criterion is evaluated on a 3-level scale. The duration of the exam is 2 hours. The exam involves an evaluation that is expressed as a grade of out of 30.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Non-attending students are inviated to contact the lecturer for information about the program.

Attendance

No obligations.

Course books

Armstrong, H.A. and Brasier, M.D., 2006. Microfossils, Blackwell Publishing.

Hag, B.U. and Boersma, A., 1978. Introduction to Marine Micropaleontology, Elsevier.

Lipps, J.H., 1993. Fossil Prokaryotes and Protists. Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Martin, R., 2000. Environmental Micropaleontology: The Application of Microfossils to Environmental Geology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Saraswati, P.K. and Srinivasan, M.S., 2016. Micropaleontology: Principles and Applications.

Assessment

The assessment consists of a written exam with ten open questions including comments on graphs and figures. This method of examination is chosen as it allows to adequately verify the preparation of the student. The evaluation criteria are: knowledge of micropaleontological concepts, microfossils and their application including biomonitoring, level of accuracy and specificity of the answer, and master of a technical language. Each criterion is evaluated on a 3-level scale. The duration of the exam is 2 hours. The exam involves an evaluation that is expressed as a grade of out of 30.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.