Micropaleontology is the branch of paleontology that investigates fossils of microscopic organisms, typically in the size range of about 1 µm to 1 mm, using optical and electron microscopy, imaging, and geochemical techniques. It focuses on groups such as foraminifera, radiolarians, calcareous nannoplankton, diatoms, and palynomorphs preserved in sedimentary records. Micropaleontological analyses are central to biostratigraphy, high-resolution chronostratigraphy, paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction, and petroleum exploration, where species assemblages, morphologies, and shell geochemistry (e.g., stable isotopes, trace elements) provide quantitative proxies for past oceanographic, atmospheric, and depositional conditions on regional to global scales.
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