Definition of "micropaleontology" [micropaleontology]

• The branch of paleontology that deals with microfossils. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In fact changing acidity and microorganisms response to the change forms the basis of most micropaleontology facies change mapping, etc."
• "Another important innovation was the analysis of microscopic fossils—micropaleontology—brought up from various drilling depths."
• "Petroleum geologists, applying their or others' micropaleontology, exploited close correlations between the occurrence of trochospiral forams, often diagnosed principally on their chirality, and fuel in the fossil record as an invaluable technique in oil prospecting."