Annual Report 2010 of the Calcareous Nannofossils Working Group

During this year the Paleogene calcareous nannofossil working group has continued its researches, investigating the major calcareous nannofossil turnover and distribution across the Danian-Selandian boundary, the PETM interval, the Ypresian/Lutetian and the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Furthermore, in 2009-2010 a comprehensive Paleogene species list was uploaded to the online taxonomic resource ‘Nannotax’ (nannotax.org) and descriptions and images have been added for most species. The working group will develop this resource over the next year as well as planning a hard copy taxonomic atlas. In September 2010 a subset of the working group met during the INA 13 Meeting in Yamagata, Japan, and initiated a discussion on the reticulofenestrids. This was the dominant coccolithophore group for much of the Paleogene and the coccoliths are widely used in biostratigraphy and paleoceanography. We aim to rationalise the complex taxonomy of the reticulofenestrids and present a scheme for wider discussion amongst the working group in 2011.

Report by Simonetta Monechi, Chairwoman.