Micropalaeontology is the study of microfossils, fossils small and abundant, used to unravel the history of life and the surface of our planet. Microfossils are fossils generally not larger than four millimeters, and commonly smaller than one millimeter, the study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. Micropaleontology can be roughly grouped into four areas of study reflecting the differences in the mineralogical and chemical composition of microfossils: (a) calcareous (coccoliths and foraminifera) (b) phosphatic (vertebrates) (c) siliceous (diatoms and radiolaria) or (d) organic (pollen and spores, plant remains).

Microfossils are especially important in biostratigraphy, since microfossils are often extremely abundant, widespread, and quick to appear and disappear from the geological record. Microfossils and extant species play an important role in the carbon, silica and nutrient cycle of the oceans and provide some of the most important records of global environmental change on long-timescales, fundamental to research on climate change in the geological past.

These works feature a number of these groups, diatoms, foraminifera, radiolarian and plant remains.

Jayne Dunn - Head of Collections Management, UCL Museums & Collections & mentor to the project 2010.