Glossary
Anoxic - No oxygen environment.
Chamber - The portions of the shell defining different spaces.
Morphology - The body shape or form.
Phragmocone - The chambered portion of the shell.
Planispiral - Coiling of the shell in one direction.
Septum - The dividing walls between the chambers of the shell.
Siphuncular cord - The bouyancy control tube that penetrates the otherwise sealed chambers of the shell.
Soft part preservation - Also
known as Lagerstatten, where exceptional preservation allows for the
soft parts of an organism to remain, when normally they would be
destroyed by decomposition and bacteria. Occurs in anoxic conditions
with very fast burial by sediment. Famous examples include the Burgess
Shale and Mazon Creek formation.
Whorl - One complete rotation of a coiled shell.
Zone fossil - A fossil that defines a set period of known time by its presence.
