Carbonate Petrography

Chapt. 2: Foraminifers
AAPG Memoir 77 illustrations
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Taxonomy and Age Range

Kingdom Protista,
Phylum Sarcomastigophora
Subphylum Sarcodina,
Superclass Rhizopoda
Class Granuloreticulosea,
Order Foraminiferida Basal Cambrian-Recent

Benthic foraminifers: Cambrian-Recent (early forms were
exclusively agglutinating)
Calcareous benthic foraminifers Ordovician-Recent; large forms
from Late Carboniferous-Recent
Planktic foraminifers: Middle Jurassic-Recent

Despite being single-celled protozoans, this is a very
complex group of organisms, with 12 suborders recognized
by Loeblich and Tappan (1984) and some 60-80,000 species
identified from Phanerozoic strata.
Skeletal Mineralogy

The tests of all planktic species and most benthic
species are composed of calcite (planktic forms
are low-Mg calcite; both high-Mg and low-Mg
calcite are common in benthics)

Some benthic species construct tests of aragonite,
silica, or organic matter (a proteinaceous
mucopolysaccharide)

Yet other benthic forms construct their tests of
cemented (agglutinated) clastic terrigenous or
calcareous sediment grains. Among agglutinators,
some are indiscriminate in their selection of
building materials, whereas others carefully select
calcareous grains, sponge spicules, mica flakes or
other specific constituents for their tests.
Skeletal Morphology

Foraminiferal tests typically range in size from less than 0.1 mm to 1
mm; the largest fossil forms reach nearly 20 cm in length.

Tests consist of hollow chambers, separated from each other by
partitions with small openings (foramina). The last chamber has one
or more exterior openings (apertures). Species with multiple
chambers are termed multilocular; the rarer species that construct
single chambered tests are termed unilocular.

Multichambered tests may have chambers arranged in a single
linear chain (uniserial) or in double (biserial) or triple (triserial) rows.
Others have chambers arranged in a coil within a single plane
(planispiral) or as a snail-like helical spire (trochospiral). More
complex arrangements of chambers such as milioline (chambers
arranged in a series where each extends the length of the test, and
each later chamber forms at an angle of up to 180 from the previous
one) or fusiform (a planispiral coil elongated along the coiling axis)
are common. Simple tubes (tubular), branching tubes (arborescent),
and irregular forms without consistent arrangement of chambers are
also found. Some species switch from one growth form to another
during life.
Keys to Petrographic Recognition - I
Most tests are multichambered, with chambers arranged in
a variety of distinctive patterns described above. Simple
forms typically are smaller than similarly-chambered
mollusks (gastropods or cephalopods); larger forms have
distinctive morphologies.
Three basic wall compositions: organic, agglutinated and
calcareous (the latter two also have an organic inner layer
or substrate).
Planktic forms typically have spines and large, simple,
thin-walled, globular chambers with highly perforated
walls (all features designed to minimize settling rates).
Some keeled and thicker-walled forms also exist.
Keys to Petrographic Recognition - II
Three major calcareous wall textures:
a) microgranular equidimensional, subspherical calcite crystals
closely packed and held together by cryptic carbonate cement,
yielding a dark-colored wall (found mainly in Late Paleozoic forms,
including fusulinids)

b) porcelaneous imperforate, multilayered wall made of
apparently randomly arranged microscopic rods or laths of calcite,
with ordered inner and outer surface layers (found in miliolids)

c) hyaline interlocking crystals of calcite about 1 m in diameter
with two types of optical behavior (optically radial forms have
calcite c-axes oriented normal to the test wall and display a
pseudo-uniaxial cross under cross-polarized light; optically
granular forms that appear speckled with color flecks under cross-
polarized light). Most hyaline forms also exhibit a lamellar wall
structure that is perforated by small (1-15 m) pores. Many of the
Cretaceous-Tertiary larger foraminifers and planktic groups have
hyaline walls (orbitoids, discocyclinids, lepidocyclinids,
nummulitids, globigerinids, and others).
Common Foraminiferal Test Morphlogies
Calcareous Foraminiferal Wall Structures
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~ 0.65 mm
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1.14 mm
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0.9 mm
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0.18 mm
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0.64 mm
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0.13 mm
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~ 77 m
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~ 2 m 155 m
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2.26 m
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0.32 mm
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0.44 mm
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0.056 mm
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1.0 mm
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0.6 mm
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0.48 mm
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~ 0.20 mm
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0.13 mm
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0.13 mm
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3.2 mm
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0.48 mm 0.48 mm
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0.68 mm
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1.6 mm
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0.75 mm
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1.6 mm
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0.64 mm
0.64 mm
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0.6 mm
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0.9 mm
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0.66 mm
Structure of a Fusulinid Foraminifer
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3.2 mm
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0.68 mm
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0.32 mm
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0.4 mm
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0.7 mm
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0.48 mm
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0.6 mm
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~ 155 m
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~ 400 m ~ 130 m
~ 160 m ~ 68 m
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0.4 mm
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1.1 mm
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0.18 mm
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0.084 mm
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0.72 mm