The Laboratory of Historical Geology and Biogeosciences (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) Micropaleontology collection: a first glance

 
The curation of Micropaleontology collection at the Laboratory of Historical Geology and Biogeosciences (HG-BioGeoSci), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), undergoes the auspices of the newly introduced MSc programme in Industrial and Environmental Applications in Micropaleontology (IdEA-M, https://idea-m.com/) at the Department of Geology and Geoenvironment. Originated as ‘Laboratory of Geology and Paleontology’ in 1906, HG-BioGeoSci incorporated micropaleontological collections mainly since the mid ’70s, when Professor Michael D. Dermitzakis established Micropaleontology as an educational discipline in the Greek academic domain. The scope of this project is to create a free access database of all micropaleontological objects stored in the HG-BioGeoSci, not only for educational purposes but also benefiting all interested parties to visit and study the collections. The Micropaleontology collection comprises the main microfossil groups/proxies (nannofossils and coccolithophores, foraminifera, pollen, dinoflagellates and other palynomorphs, ostracods, siliceous microfossils etc.), dated from the Paleozoic to the present day. In terms of geographic distribution, the majority of the micropaleontological items comes from the Greek territory and the broader Mediterranean area as also other locations worldwide, including samples collected by the global deep-sea drilling programs (DSDP, ODP, IODP, ICDP). The material mostly refers to microscope slides, isolated specimens or species assemblages, thin sections, mounted SEM stubs and filtered water samples. Except from the microfossil content, the raw material comprising rock samples, marine and terrestrial core records, surface sediments, sediment traps, as well as sample residues is also documented in a digital database. The database displays a 2 level classification where all different types of microfossils are documented, labeled with a unique Laboratory code and linked to all available data, i.e., lithology/material type, sampling date and methods, preparation date and analysis techniques, biozone/ biostratigraphic assignment, applied biozonal scheme, age, paleoenvironment type, owner, analyst, references list, repository and notes (e.g., field notes, photos, original drawings, derived publications etc.).
Up to now, more than 8.000 calcareous nannoplankton preparations have been entered associated with more than 20.000 entries of sample residues and raw samples, while it is estimated that the total amount of the Micropaleontology collection at HG-BioGeoSci will exceed 130.000 entities.