Foraminifer (Elphidium spp.)

Model Description

Foraminifera are classified as microfossils. In reality they are usually smalle rthan 1 mm. This model is much larger than a mm in order to show the detail on this small organisms. When microscopes were invented, one of the first things humans looked at were foraminifera (forams, for short). This genus, Elphidium, was the first foram sketched under a microscope. Originally, they were thought to be tiny mullusks (like snails and clams), but eventually they were separated into their own category because they are single-celled organisms.

Forams are one of the major limestone producers in the ocean and therefore they play a major role in the global carbon cycle that regulates Earth's climate.

Scanned in Dr. Franek Hasiuk's GeoFabLab (Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University) from an unmarked teaching model.

Scanned with the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner set on "Light." Attempts to Multiscan fail to improve the model.

Submitted by: Franek Hasiuk, Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University