Paleontology and Laboratory

The course is organized into two units and illustrates the basic concepts of Palaeontlogy that are usefull to geologists.
The first unit is theorethical and includes the presentation of Taphonomy, Systematic Palaeontology with the most important groups of marine invertebrates, Palaeoecology, Biostratigraphy and Chronostratigraphy. Every systematic group is shortly presented in term of stratigraphic distribution, anatomy, structure and morphology of the skeleton, systematic subdivision of the group, mode of life and application in Palaeontology.
The Laboratory unit is dedicated to the description and identification at Phylum/Class level of specimens from a collection consisting of several hundreds of specimens.

The student will learn how to recognize and describe macrofossil specimens collected in the field. He will be able to understand the taphonomy of these specimens and to compare it with the diagenetic features of the sediment/rock hosting the specimens.
The student will be able do identify and select the fossils useful for palaeoecological analyses and for biostratigraphic applications.