Do size and shape matter to sinking foraminifera?
Matthew Walker & Stuart Humphries, University of Lincoln, UK
Email: [email protected]
What are Foraminifera?
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Often called forams
Single cells
Have a chalk shell
Less than 1mm in length
Each species has an unique shape
Why are they important?
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Previous climate record
Pollution monitoring
Storage and cycling of carbon in the oceans
All of these are measured using dead forams
that have sunk to the sea floor
How fast do they sink?
• Sinking speed affects where and how many
forams are deposited
• Sinking speed is a complicated balance (right)
• Shape alters sinking speed
• Forams have different shapes, so no-one
knows how fast different shapes sink
Drag
Buoyancy
Density of object
Density
of fluid
Weight
How am I investigating shape
and sinking speed?
• Scaling up foram shells, 35 times larger
than life, using a 3D printer (left)
• Using these models to find how shape and
sizes affect the sinking speed
• Look for changes in shape and sinking
rates in the past 65 million years