Coccolithophores are tiny single celled planktonic organisms
that live in the oceans. They have tiny armoured calcium
carbonate plates known as coccoliths. Whilst still present and
abundant today, during the time of the dinosaurs there were
trillions upon trillions of these organisms living in the warm
shallow oceans that pervaded much of the planet. Coccolithophore
elections during the Cretaceous were hotly contested. And these
notoriously liberal voting critters are still influencing voting
patterns today. Its just a pity they aren’t registered to vote,
otherwise the trillions of coccoliths could easily swing an
election. However they are doing their bit, through a curious
bit of geology, and history, that leads to a swath of blue
voting counties across the deep south of America. I came across
this gem of a blog post via a couple of American geologist
friends, it’s well worth a full read here, but here’s a summary.
What do these critters do now? Well, the trillions of coccoliths
descended to the sea floor w