钙质超微化石(Calcareous nannofossils)系指某些单细胞浮游金藻死亡后游离的钙质外骨片,以及经常与其共生的微小生物钙质外骨片或内骨片残骸总称。对钙质超微化石的研究可追溯到1836年,德国生物学家埃伦贝格(C·G·Ehrenberg)把众多微小而扁平的椭圆形“菌藻-矿物”圆盘称之为“似晶石”(Crystalloides)。从上世纪末至本世纪初,由于认识到颗石藻类等钙质超微浮游生物是现代海洋食物链中最重要的初级环,因此,对它的研究有了长足的进展。德国生物学家汉斯·卢洛曼(Hans Loh- Calcareous nannofossils refers to the free calcareous outer fragment after the death of some single-cell planktonic algae, and the common name of micro-organism calcareous outer fragment or inner fragment debris that often coexist with them. Studies of calcareous microfossils date back to 1836 when C. Ehrenberg, a German biologist, called many tiny, flat, oval “algae-mineral” disks “ Crystalloides. ” From the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, great progress has been made in its research because it recognizes that calcareous phytoplankton, such as coccolithophyte, is the most important primary ring in modern marine food chains. German biologist Hans Lohmann (Hans Loh-