foram
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈfɔːr.æm/
- Specialized
- The limestone from the last stage of the Cretaceous period contained diverse, abundant, and relatively large forams, many as big as grains of sand.
Examples
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But the forams in Osterman's core samples were most abundant after 1950, when farmers began using more fertilizer.
Academic text (2006) -
As far back as 1823, the forams thrived during Mississippi River flood years, suggesting that nutrients in floodwaters can indeed trigger hypoxia.
Academic text (2006) -
The scientists dated the sediments and counted three species of foraminiferans ("forams") in the cores; these species tolerate hypoxic waters.
Academic text (2006) -
Under normal conditions, tiny sea creatures like forams and coccolithophores absorb carbon out of the water and use it to build their shells and skeletons.
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Eating my lunch, I was sitting on rocks composed of the shells of heaps upon heaps of large forams about the length of my little finger.
Synonyms
1
9.9
Small single-celled sea creature with a hard shell that has holes for thin arm-like extensions
Surface Forms
Etymology
Foram comes from the longer name foraminifera, built from the Latin root foramen meaning 'hole'. So a foram is named for the small holes in its shell where its 'tiny arms' come out, which explains the modern meaning of these shelled sea microbes.