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Weekend #Plankton Factoid 馃馃
The White Cliffs of Dover are an iconic formation often seen on television or films that can be over 100 m high. The white colour is chalk "biomicrite" formed by the compacted deposits from dense blooms of Coccolithophore phytoplankton covered with distinct plates of calcite (coccoliths) in a shallow sea during the Late Cretaceous. The dark bands of flint within the chalk are formed from silica skeletons of sponges and radiolarian zooplankton.
#CarbonSink #geology
image/jpeg a scanning electron micrograph of a spherical organism covered in oval plates with radiating spokes from a depressed center, looking similar to lifesaver candies. Scale bar suggests cell is about 8 microns in diameter. Photo from Jeremy Young CC-BY-SA 4.0.
image/jpeg a photo of tall, very white cliffs emerging from blue water. The cliff tops are covered in a thin layer of green grass, and a lighthouse is seen in the distance. Photo from Archangel12 CC-BY-SA 2.0.