Fusulinid, Sandia Mtns.

Axial section of an Upper Paleozoic fusulinid from the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, NM. Fusilinids are marine microfossils of extinct single cell organisms that lived from Mississippian to Permian time. Because they had a world-wide distribution, and evolved rapidly, they can be used to correlate sedimentary rocks of similar ages.