Post #1688468

Japanese Earth science word of the day: 有孔虫 (ゆうこうちゅう - yuukouchuu) - foraminifera. Foraminifera are single celled organisms that secrete a carbonate shell-like "test". Foraminifera fossils are abundant in marine sediments and are used extensively in paleoclimate research. The Chinese character 有 means "to have" and 孔 means "cavity". This relates to the original Latin derived word, where "foramen" means "hole" and "-fer" means "includes". The character 虫 can mean "bug", which is often appended to words to describe to any small creature in Japanese. I have big plans tomorrow to extract foraminifera out of some Early Pleistocene sediments. This will be the first time I have done this, and I have no training. Wish me luck! #Geology #Japan