Micro- to Macro-scale Foraminiferal Distributions ...indicate warm water as Globigerinoides ruber and Globorotalia menardii s.l. show an increasing frequency from the top to 40 cm

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Micro- to Macro-scale Foraminiferal Distributions:Patterns and Processes

A Session in Honor of the Research Contributionsof Dr. Martin A. Buzas

Chaired by Laurel Collins, Stephen Culver and Brian Huber

The research of Dr. Martin A. Buzas over the past 40 years has dealtwith the distribution of foraminifera across all scales, from a single cc to anentire ocean, and from the present to the past. This session is designed toshowcase new findings and new methodologies in benthic and plankticforaminiferal distributional studies from Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata andmodern oceans. The session commences with an overview of Marty Buzas’sresearch contributions followed by papers dealing with, but not limited to, thefollowing topics: patterns of distributions, both small and large-scale; processescontrolling distributions; quantitative approaches and interpretive techniques;and molecular approaches.

Anuár io do Inst i tu to de Geociências - UFRJISSN 0101-9759 Vol . 29 - 1 / 2006

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Micro- to macro-scale foraminiferal distributions:The contributions of Martin A. Buzas

Stephen J. Culver

Department of Geology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858, [email protected]

The research that Marty Buzas has published over the past more than40 years has influenced us greatly. That research has many strands that wecannot deal with in a single symposium. The theme of this session is micro- tomacro-scale foraminiferal distributions, a theme that is interwoven throughoutMarty’s research career. Distributions are something that Marty is very fondof. He was trained in statistics as well as foraminifera and so it was inevitablethat he would combine his knowledge of statistical distributions with foraminiferaldistributions at several different scales. He has studied the distribution offoraminifera at microscales, horizontally within a 10 cm2 area of the sea flooror vertically, cm by cm within a 20 cm core. He has also worked at themesoscale, quantifying, through the pioneering use of the General Linear Model,the relationship of foraminiferal distributions and environmental variables inspace and time. This research led to the hypothesis of pulsating patches. Hehas worked at the macroscale with S. J. Culver, defining the distribution ofbenthic foraminiferal provinces, showing that all foraminiferal distributionsparticularly around the coasts of North and Central America belong to thesame statistical distribution. Their work has documented the assembly anddisassembly of communities and the latitudinal patterns of deep-sea benthicforaminiferal diversity in the Atlantic basin. Most recently, with his coauthor,mathematical statistician L. C. Hayek, Marty has delved deep into the intricaciesof species diversity and solved a 50 year-old supposedly intractable problem ofmathematically relating species richness with species evenness. This work ledto the introduction of new approaches to understanding community structureand recognizing boundaries between adjacent communities (SHE analysis).

Many of us work long hours and publish many papers over our careersbut few of us truly influence the fundamentals of our science. Marty Buzas isone micropaleontologist whose work will be of lasting significance.

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520

From blue skies science to practical application:Increasing need for retrospectivein environmental

micropaleontological monitoring (REMM)

Elisabeth Alve

Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, [email protected]

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) focuses on theprotection of groundwater, inland surface waters, estuarine waters, and coastalwaters. One of the central themes in the implementation Guidance documentconcerning “Transitional and Coastal Waters” is defining biological referenceconditions. This is in contrast to governmental bodies’ traditional sole focus oncontemporary environmental monitoring and opens new possibilities forenvironmental micropaleontology.

Improved knowledge of benthic foraminiferal ecology, combined withdating and geochemical methods to trace changes in environmental parametersback in time, has strengthened our ability to perform paleoecologicalinterpretations integrated with a time-scale. As a result of this, we see a growingbody of retrospective studies from all over the world, linking faunal changesover the past few centuries to natural and/or anthropogenic causes. Yet, ourmain audience for these papers is our scientific colleagues. However, theEuropean initiative appreciates that information about “background conditions”and natural variability is crucial when planning improvement strategies; thisrepresents a major opportunity for micropaleontologists to get retrospectivestudies incorporated into governmental guidelines for environmentalinvestigation. This will create new employment opportunities for our students.A major challenge now is to make our governmental authorities aware of theunique potential micropaleontology has to approach some of the problemsthey are facing. Retrospective Environmental MicropaleontologicalMonitoring (REMM):

1) can provide biological reference conditions for any given soft bottomarea with net sediment accumulation (> about 1mm/yr) several hundredyears back in time;

2) can provide data on natural variability as well as high resolution time-series of environmental change in estuarine and coastal sedimentaccumulation areas;

Anuár io do Inst i tu to de Geociências - UFRJISSN 0101-9759 Vol. 29 - 1 / 2006 p. 520-521

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521Anuário do Instituto de Geociências - UFRJISSN 0101-9759 - Vol. 29 - 1 / 2006 p. 520-521

FORAMS 2006From blue skies science to practical application: Increasing need for retrospectivein

environmental micropaleontological monitoring (REMM)Elisabeth Alve

3) is extremely cost efficient as compared to traditional biological monitoring;4) is gentle on the environment - only involves physical disturbance

of a fraction of the soft bottom habitat as compared to traditionalbiological sampling.

In order to make our methods attractive and applicable, we need tospecify strengths and limitations, establish good ecological calibration sets, andto improve our quantitative approaches. Marty Buzas has educated us on thelatter and it is now up to us to take it a step further. Improved knowledge ofquantitative relationships between faunal and environmental parameters isparticularly needed. The Norwegian Pollution Control Authority’s classificationsystem for environmental quality includes a classification for soft-bottommacrofauna. It is currently being modified and incorporated into theimplementation strategy for WFD. Recently, this system has been applied tomodern benthic foraminiferal assemblages as well as to fossil ones in datedsediment cores from sill basins along the southern Norwegian coast.Distributional data show a significant correlation between several faunalparameters and annual dissolved oxygen minimum concentrations (bottomwater). Application of the governmental classification system for environmentalquality shows the same pattern whether used on soft-bottom macrofauna or onbenthic foraminifera. These ecological training sets have allowed reconstructionof the successive environmental change (transition from one environmentalclass to another) within areas of different present-day environmental status.These results are very promising and illustrate the significance of REMM.

522

Biostratigraphic, paleoclimatic and paleobatymetric eventsin the upper continental slope, north Bahia, Brazil

Tânia Maria Fonseca Araújo & Altair Jesus Machado

Universidade Federal da Bahia/UFBA, CPGG / IGEO. Rua Caetano Moura 123,Federação, 40 210-340, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

[email protected]

The foraminiferal fauna present in 1.90 m long cores from the northcoast of the State of Bahia, were analyzed for developing a biostratigraphiczonation and interpretating paleoclimatic and paleobathymetric events thatoccurred during the Quaternary in this part of the Brazilian Continental Margin.Four sample stations were piston cored from the upper continental slope: cores132 (730 m deep), 141 (790 m deep), 147 (640 m deep) and 160 (480 m deep).From forty samples selected from the cores, 10,544 foraminifer specimenswere picked up and 312 taxa were identified representing 96 genera and 302species. The frequency and distribution patterns of the planktonic foraminiferasuggest the presence of assemblage indicators that may be correlated withinternational Quaternary biozones. The frequency variations of planktonicsindicate warm water as Globigerinoides ruber and Globorotalia menardiis.l. show an increasing frequency from the top to 40 cm of cores 132, 141 and160, and to 60 cm depth of core 147. The presence of Globorotalia menardiif. fimbriata and Globorotalia menardii f. ungulata, which occur only in theHolocene, suggests warm water conditions for this core interval, as well asabsence of Globorotalia inflata, which is a bioindicator of cold water. This isa suggestion that this core interval might be correlated with the internationalbiozone Z of Quaternary time (Holocene – Interglacial). Likewise, the variationsobserved in the frequency of the cold water planktonic bioindicators,Globigerina bulloides and Globorotalia truncatulinoides, show an increasingfrequency from 40 cm depth in the cores 132, 141 and 160 to their bottoms andfrom 60 cm deep until the bottom of core 147. This observation suggests thatthis core interval might be correlated with international Y zone (Pleistocene –Glacial) of the Quaternary. Variations observed in the relative frequency ofbenthonic versus planktonic speces show predominance of benthonics at thebottom of cores 141, 147 and 160. Moreover, changes in the high proportion of


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FORAMS 2006Biostratigraphic, paleoclimatic and paleobatymetric events in the upper

continental slope, north Bahia, BrazilTânia Maria Fonseca Araújo & Altair Jesus Machado

benthonic species in the bottom of cores 141 and 147, to increased frequencyof planktonic ones at the top of these cores suggest eustatic sea level variations,which may be correlated with Quaternary global climatic changes, with thepaleoclimatic Pleistocene Glacial at the bottom and the climatic HoloceneInterglacial in the top. The frequency variations of the benthonic depth indicatorssuch as Uvigerina peregrina and Bolivina subaenariensis show an increasedfrequency from the top to 20 cm depth in core 160, indicating an interglacialperiod (Holocene) and a sea level increase. In this same core the speciesBulimina marginata, Bulimina patagonica and Bulimina subaenariensisshow an increase in their frequency from 1m deep to its bottom, indicating adecrease in water temperature (Pleistocene), reduction of eustatic sea leveland an increase in productivity. Therefore, based on these results, it is suggestedthat during the Holocene in the north coast of the State of Bahia, a high eustaticsea level and warm waters predominated. Otherwise, during the Pleistocenelow eustatic sea level, cold water and a high productivity patternpredominated. 14C foraminiferal dating and ä18O analysis are needed toconfirm the findings of this work.

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Foraminiferal assemblages in subsurface sedimentsof the upper continental slope, north Bahia, Brazil

Tânia Maria Fonseca Araújo & Altair de Jesus Machado

Universidade Federal da Bahia/UFBA, CPGG / IGEO. Rua Caetano Moura 123,Federação, 40 210 340, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

[email protected]

This work presents the analysis of one piston core (1.90 m long) fromthe upper continental slope at the north coast of the State of Bahia, which wascollected at 730 m deep, approximately 9 km from the continent. Ten sampleswere selected at 20 cm intervals, for defining correlation of the foraminiferalbenthonic assemblages with bathymetric, sedimentologic and hydrodynamicparameters. The patterns of distribution and the frequency of the foraminiferalspecies indicate assemblages mainly characterized by > 1% relative frequency.The sediments are composed of olive gray carbonate mud mainly withforaminiferal tests and mollusk debris from the top to 40 cm depth, and an olivedark (40 – 60 cm) to brownish black (1.20 m) siliciclastic mud, with plantfragments to its bottom. The frequency of the benthonic species increases at60 cm, 1m and 1.60 m depths in the core.

o At the core top, there is a benthonic assemblage with fiveforaminiferal species that include in decreasing order of abundance:Cassidulina crassa, Bolivina pseudoplicata, Eponides frigidus,Bolivina doniezi and Bulimina patagonica.

o Sample 2 (20 cm deep) has a benthonic assemblage with elevenspecies: Bolivina subaenariensis, Bulimina marginata, Cassidulinasubglobosa, B. patagonica, Cibicides pseudoungerianus,Planulina faveolata, Trifarina bradyi, Uvigerina peregrina, Bolivinaordinaria, Eponides frigidus de:and Laticarinina halopora.

o Sample 3 (40 cm deep) has ten species: Bolivina subaenariensis,C. pseudoungerianus, Sphaeroidina bulloides, B. patagonica,Cassidulina norcrossi australis, E. frigidus, B. marginata,Cassidulina curvata, L. halopora and Pullenia bulloides.

o Sample 4 (60 cm deep) has eighteen species: B. patagonica, B.subaenariensis, B. marginata, Bulimina affins, Bolivinasubreticulata, Cassidulina laevigata, Bolivina difformis, C.


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FORAMS 2006Foraminiferal assemblages in subsurface sedimentsof the upper continental slope, north Bahia, Brazil

Tânia Maria Fonseca Araújo & Altair de Jesus Machado

subglobosa, C. pseudoungerianus, Brizalina striatula, Buliminabuchiana, E. frigidus, Angulogerina angulosa angulosa,Bulimina aculeata, Bulimina costata, C. crassa, Eponidesrepandus and Melonis affine.

o Sample 5 (80 cm deep) has just one species: Sphaeroidinabulloides.

o Sample 6 (1 m deep) has nine species: S. bulloides, B. affins, B.aculeata, C. pseudoungerianus, B. marginata, B. patagonica,B. subreticulata, C. curvata, U. peregrina.

o In samples 7 (1.20 m deep) and 8 (1.40 m deep) was found only oneplanktonic species and no benthonics.

o In sample 9 (1.60m deep) the benthonic assemblage has eight species:C. pseudoungerianus, C. laevigata, E. frigidus, Sigmavirgulinatortuosa, C. subglobosa, Ammonia tepida, Angulogerinaangulosa occidentalis, Cibicides lobatulus.

o And in sample 10 (1.80 m deep) four species were identified: A.tepida, C. subglobosa, C. pseudoungerianus, Gyroidinaumbonata.

It was observed the predominance of the infaunal genera Bolivina,Uvigerina, Bulimina and Cassidulina commonly found in muddy sandsubstrates, characteristic of cold-temperate or cold-warm waters. The presenceof the genera Bolivina, Uvigerina and Bulimina in samples 2 (20 cm) and 6(1 m) reflect a deep environment, probably with little oxygen and/or a high rateof influx of organic matter. The change from a carbonate mud at the top of thecore to a siliciclastic mud at its bottom, and the absence of benthonic andplanktonic assemblages in the depositional intervals of 80 cm, 1.20 m and 1.40m deep, suggests environmental changes probably related to a reduction in theeustatic sea level.

526

Foraminifera on coral reefs of Brazil: The FOCO project

Cátia Fernandes Barbosa1; Patricia Oliveira-Silva1; José Carlos Sícoli Seoane2;Renato C. Cordeiro1; Beatrice Padovani Ferreira3; Abilio Soares-Gomes4; Carine M.De Almeida4; Gustavo P. Queiroz4; Thais Lamana4; Silvia Lisboa4 & Débora Duran4

1Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense/UFF.Outeiro de São João Batista, s/no, 5o andar, Centro, Niterói, RJ, 24020-007, Brazil

[email protected]. de Geologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/UFRJ.

Av. Oscar Trompowsky s/no,Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil3Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco/UFPE.

Av. Arquitetura s/no, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, Brazil4Depto. de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Federal Fluminense/UFF.

Outeiro de São João Batista s/no,Instituto de Biologia, Centro, Niterói, RJ, 24020-007, Brazil

Coral reefs have been considered worldwide as good climaticbioindicators because they bear markings in their skeletons of interannual,decadal and higher time scales. These growth bands provide a continuousstratigraphic register of Quaternary climatic oscillations, but sampling proceduresto obtain such a record involve some damage to living coral organisms. In thisaspect the foraminifera are considered useful alternative bioindicators as theyhave the same metabolic requirements as corals, but sampling proceduresproduce no negative environmental impact. Foraminifera also present a morerapidly growing standing crop and also register shorter term changes on theseenvironments. The Ministry of Environment of Brazil in 2004 began a programto identify possible bioindicators of climatic changes along the Brazilian coastline, and to promote their subsequent use as powerful tools for monitoringprograms and coastal management. The sponsoring of the FOCO Project, whichconsisted of undertaking samples from reefs of Brazil since 2000, now allowsfor improved sampling of other areas. The objective of the FOCO Project is tocarry out a survey of the quantitative and qualitative distribution of benthicforaminifera in reef sediment and test the applicability of this climatic observationin Brazilian coral reef areas. This supplements their use for base mappingenvironmental impact fronts using GIS in a 1:25.000 scale for coral reefs alongthe Brazilian margin through the observation of bleaching and/or deformationof tests, mainly in the genus Amphistegina spp. In this paper we present theseresults for the four different Brazilian coral reef systems analyzed, which


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FORAMS 2006Foraminifera on coral reefs of Brazil: The FOCO project

Cátia Fernandes Barbosa; Patricia Oliveira-Silva; José Carlos Sícoli Seoane; Renato C. Cordeiro;Beatrice Padovani Ferreira; Abilio Soares-Gomes; Carine M. De Almeida;

Gustavo P. Queiroz; Thais Lamana; Silvia Lisboa & Débora Duran

encompass APA Costa dos Corais (PE) and Porto Seguro (BA) as well asFernando de Noronha (PE) and Abrolhos Bank (BA), in order to verify ifAmphistegina spp. can be used for this diagnosis in South Atlantic waters. Atotal of 72 reef sediment and 18 geochemical samples per area were collectedin January 2005 and in July 2005. Samples were collected using scubaequipment, and parameters measured on site include visibility, watertemperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen, both at the surface and at depth,while sampled sediments are analyzed for carbonate, phosphorus, and organicmatter, as well as mineralogy and grain size. At the laboratory, foraminiferawere identified under a stereomicroscope to the species level. The resultssuggest that Amphistegina spp. can be used as a low cost bioindicator toevaluate the health of Brazilian reefs, and also that photic stress can be thecause of the high number of bleached, small size and broken tests inAmphistegina spp. specimens.

528

Deep-sea benthic foraminifera of Campos Basin, SE Brazil:Distribution, taxonomy and response to climatic and

eustatic variations in the late Quaternary

Valquíria Porfírio Barbosa1 & Eduardo A. M. Koutsoukos2

1FADESP-CENPES/PDEXP/BPA, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão,21941-598 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

[email protected]/PDEXP/BPA, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão,

21941-598 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Deep-sea benthic foraminifera are particularly suitable for paleoecologicaland paleoceanographic investigation because they are cosmopolitan indistribution, occur commonly in marine sediments and have a high preservationpotential. Numerous investigations have dealt with the effects of differentenvironmental parameters on the benthic foraminiferal assemblages in an effortto explain their distribution patterns and ecological preferences. Nevertheless,a thorough study of modern assemblages is necessary to acquire a betterunderstanding of the factors influencing the distribution of deep-sea benthicforaminifera, especially from poorly investigated regions such as the westernSouth Atlantic Ocean.

This study presents the distribution patterns of deep-sea benthicforaminifera assemblages in the late Quaternary, recovered from piston cores#CAM257 (22°26’42"S. 38°56’17"W) and #CAM275 (22°33’48"S,39°11’44"W) drilled in the lower continental slope of Campos Basin, in thesoutheastern Brazilian continental margin. Detailed geochemical studies (ä18O)carried out on Orbulina universa and Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi teststhroughout the studied section allow inferences on ecological preferencesrelative to climatic and environmental conditions. The recorded main changesof foraminiferal distribution patterns are related to local and global climaticand eustatic variations during the late Quaternary (~150 Ka), as well asthe paleoenvironmental imprint of glacial and interglacial intervals in thestudied section


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Foraminiferal monitoring of ecosystems: Mission-AransasNational Estuarine Research Reserve, Texas

Pamela Buzas-Stephens

Geosciences Department, Midwestern State University,3410 Taft Blvd. Wichita Falls, TX 76310, U.S.A.

[email protected]

On the Texas coast north of Corpus Christi, a National EstuarineResearch Reserve (NERR) has been established. Several bays, including,Aransas, Mission, Copano, Redfish, and Mesquite Bays, are part of the reserve,which encompasses diverse habitats such as mangrove swamps, seagrass beds,and oyster reefs. Some of the sites within the Mission-Aransas NERR thathave already been subject to human impact are designated as buffer zones,while the more pristine sites will be used for scientific studies such as this one.The purpose of this study is to establish baseline data for foraminiferal populationdistributions in Aransas, Copano, and Mesquite Bays (and eventually all of theNERR bays), and to use this data for future monitoring of the reserve. Pastresearch by Phleger (1956) reported living numbers of foraminifers in Aransasand Mesquite Bays, and some of his stations are being re-sampled for thispaper. Phleger found that average populations in Aransas and Mesquite Bayswere 110 and 85 specimens per 10 ml, respectively. These densities are similarto those found so far in the current study, which average 99 individuals per10ml in Aransas Bay. Species richness from the 1950s (approximately 15species in each bay) is also comparable to that of today (approximately 13species per bay), with the predominant genera usually being Ammonia andElphidium. As the present research progresses in the coming months, it will beinteresting to see if abundance and diversity correlate with environmentalparameters such as salinity and nutrient availability. Since the estuaries in theNERR are important recreational areas, nesting sites, and spawning groundsfor shellfish and finfish, it is critical to monitor these ecosystems for future use.


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Divergence of late Miocene Caribbean and tropicalEastern Pacific shallow-water benthic foraminifera

Laurel S. Collins

Department of Earth Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 33199, [email protected]

In the Paleogene to earliest Neogene, benthic foraminiferal and molluscanfaunas from the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific were reported to be quite similar,because a tropical seaway connected the two oceans across the area that istoday southern Central America. About four million years ago the CentralAmerican Seaway closed completely, and today the two faunas are quitedifferent in composition. This study compares Neogene benthic foraminiferalfaunas of formations from either side of the Central American isthmus that arefrom the same time intervals and paleobathymetric zones, to look at changes infaunal composition, diversity and the proportion of endemism up through thetime of seaway constriction and complete closure.

Formations on the Caribbean side of Central America are from the LimónBasin of Costa Rica, and the Bocas del Toro Basin and Panama Canal Basinof Panama. The time period covered by these formations is from early Mioceneto late Pliocene, and from middle neritic to lower bathyal water depths. Becausethere are no comparable, well-oxygenated Neogene depositional basins on thePacific coast of Central America, benthic foraminiferal assemblages primarilyfrom formations of coastal Ecuador are used for comparison with the Caribbeanformations. Ecuador was the furthest that tropical waters extended south onthe Pacific side of Central America, just north of stronger influence by thePeru Current. The time interval covered by Ecuador formations is also earlyMiocene to late Pliocene, from middle neritic to lower bathyal depths.

The prediction, based on preliminary results, is that species distributionsshould indicate a stage of developing endemism in late Miocene Caribbean andPacific faunas. For example, the deeper, outer neritic faunas of the late MioceneAngostura Formation of the Borbón Basin, northwestern Ecuador, show lesssimilarity with the Caribbean than do the shallower, middle neritic faunas of thesame formation. Deeper faunas should have been affected first by the rise ofthe sill that severed the connection between Caribbean and tropical EasternPacific faunas. Diversity is also predicted to have been more similar betweenthe Caribbean and tropical Eastern Pacific prior to seaway constriction, and tohave diverged in the late Miocene to early Pliocene.


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Recent foraminifera from the Croatian Adriatic seacoast

Vlasta Cosovic1; Mladen Juracic1; Alan Moro2; Morana Hernitz Kucenjak2;Sanja Rukavina1; Nevio Pugliese3; Natasa Stuper3 & Ines Vlahov1

1Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Science,University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

[email protected] nafte d.d., Research and Development Sector,

Lovinciceva bb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia3Dipartimento di Scienze geologiche, Ambientali e Marine,

University degli studi di Trieste, Via Weiss 2, 34127 Trieste, Italia

The need to assess the impact of pollution (industrial, agricultural, andother anthropogenic chemicals) in the Adriatic Sea leads to the study and useof foraminiferal assemblages as environmental quality indicators in coastalsettings. From the time of Dezelic (1896. Foraminifere Jadranskog mora.Glasnik Hrvatskog naravoslovnog drustva, Zagreb, 9: 97) until the 1990sand the appearance of Mediterranean Foraminifera (Cimerman & Langer,1991. Mediterranean Foraminifera. Dela – Opera, Ljubljana, 30: 118),the study of foraminifera has included sporadic collecting of samples fromparticular sites (Cimerman et al., 1988. Rev. Paléobiol., vol. spec. 2, Benthos’86: 741-753) during a very short time interval or collecting of samples from asite over an extended period of time (Daniels 1970. Götting. Arb. Geol.Paläont., Göttingen, 8: 109). The knowledge we gained from such studieswas general, such as that 583 Recent foraminiferal species (19 are planktonicforms) live in the Croatian coastal region of the Adriatic Sea. The growinginterest in the subject of environmental changes and concern for Croatia’smain export product (tourism) suggested the need for systematic investigationof foraminiferal assemblages. From Croatia’s 1000km long, geomorphologicallydiverse coast with more than 1000 islands, we have chosen four particularsites to initiate monitoring. The sites were chosen to show the relationshipbetween enclosed circulation patterns, karstic drainage (subsurface andsurface), and anthropogenic influence (eutrophication). We studied (fromnorthwest to southeast): the Mirna river estuary (intensive agriculture locally),Plomin Bay (“measurable” river input and power plant contamination), RijekaBay (municipal sewage and effluent from the busy cargo port), and Mljet lakes(restricted marine environment with summer stratification and sporadicagricultural activity). Scuba divers collected sediments from several stations in


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FORAMS 2006Recent foraminifera from the Croatian Adriatic seacoast

Vlasta Cosovic; Mladen Juracic; Alan Moro; Morana Hernitz Kucenjak;Sanja Rukavina; Nevio Pugliese; Natasa Stuper & Ines Vlahov

a transect from the most landward station towards the open sea (down to 55mdepth), and we studied stained and unstained and total assemblages fromsamples prepared according to standard procedures (around 300 specimensobtained by splitting after washing the samples over 0.063mm sieve). Theforaminiferal assemblages from sites where freshwater input is considerableshow the following characteristics:

1) an Ammonia beccarii association typical for lagoons along theMediterranean coast (Murray, 1991. Longman Scientific andTechnical, Harlow, Essex: 391) is identified in the region closest tothe discharge area;

2) the assemblages are composed of a great number of megalosphericforms of A. beccarii;

3) dead tests are much more common in the assemblage then livingones (regardless of season when sampling takes place);

4) there is a predominance of species belonging to Rotaliina over Miliolina(Textulariina specimens do not exceed 10%);

5) indices of biodiversity imply marginal to normal marine conditions;6) an Ammonia/Elphidium ratio from 46% to 92%;7) dissolved tests are less than 5% of the living assemblages; and8) species diversity corresponds positively with Fe, Mn concentrations

in the sediments from Rijeka Bay and negatively with Pbconcentrations (relative abundance of deformed tests is less than 1%).

It is clear that constant fresh water input is a stressful influence, butneither intensive agricultural or industrial activities in the vicinity nor intensivemarine traffic have left a noticeable impact on the foraminiferal morphologies.Foraminiferal assemblages from restricted marine settings are characterizedby a low biodiversity index, depth dependence of “specialist” miliolids overrotaliids, and in temporarily hypoxic lagoons, the presence of species tolerantof low oxygen conditions (in “dead” assemblages).

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Quaternary climate instability as the driver of geneticdiversification in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sin)

Kate Darling1; Michal Kucera2 & Chris Wade3

1Grant Institute of Earth Science/Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh,Edinburgh, U.K. - [email protected]

2Institut für Geowissenschaften, Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.3Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, U.K.

Molecular genetic analysis shows that many planktonic foraminiferalmorphospecies represent complexes of several distinct genetic types with distinctecologies and distributions. Such cryptic diversity is common in most planktonicprotists. Global biogeographical patterns provide many clues to their specificadaptations in the present day but not always to the past processes which mayhave created them. Planktonic foraminifers are ideal taxa for addressing theseissues as their evolutionary history can be traced back in time with high resolutionusing their outstanding fossil record. In combination with paleoceanographicevidence, it is possible to interpret the modern molecular studies in an historicaloceanographic context and gain an insight into the links with past global climaticor tectonic events.

Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sin) currently dominates the highlatitude assemblage and has played a pivotal role in the reconstruction of pastclimate in these regions. It first appeared approximately 10 million years agoand phylogeographic evidence indicates that it may not have been a true polaradapted morphospecies throughout its existence. The common ancestor of allthe modern day N. pachyderma (sin) genotypes was bipolar and thus had asubpolar ecology. At the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, AtlanticArctic and Antarctic populations became isolated and some genotypesdeveloped an extreme polar affinity. Others retained a more subpolar ecologybut with a more restricted temperature range than the bipolar subpolarmorphospecies. Genetic diversity therefore arose in N. pachyderma (sin)through a stepwise progression of diversification associated with the onset ofNorthern Hemisphere glaciation and the glacial-interglacial climate dynamicsof the Quaternary period.


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Annual shifts in inter-tidal foraminiferaldiversity in the west coast of India

Gadi Subhadra Devi & K. P. Rajashekhar

Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalore 574 199, [email protected]

Environmental conditions are known to influence foraminiferalassemblages and their diversity. Seasonal fluctuations however, are not wellstudied in tropical intertidal habitats. The southern West Coast of India hasnarrow coastal plains bordered on the east by the Western Ghats, which rise toan average height of 900m above sea level. This generates monsoonprecipitation from southwesterly winds that last for about four months beginningin the first week of June. Due to a steep gradient of the Western Ghats numerousswift-flowing rivers course through a highly productive region that includes thecoastal plains and they traverse a distance of about 60 km before reaching thesea. They provide large inputs of various micro- and macro-nutrients. Themonsoons thus considerably alter the hydrobiologic profile of the Arabian Sea.Thus the West Coast of India provides an interesting region for study ofcorrelation of monsoon and foraminiferal diversity. It is all the more significantas paleomonsoon data are often interpreted from proxy foraminifera.

In the present investigation, seasonal variations in diversity and abundanceof total foraminiferal populations (TFN) were studied at an estuarine (RiverSal) and a non-estuarine site (Utorda) along the coast of Goa, India, betweenOctober 2004 to September 2005. The observations were correlated with variousparameters such as sediment texture, organic matter, calcium carbonate, watertemperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, calcium, silicate and phosphate content.Quantitative analyses of all samples were carried out by following standardmethods and biodiversity indices were calculated.

At the estuary, lesser diversity of foraminifera represented by 25 species(23 benthic and 2 planktonic species) belonging to 15 genera, 9 families and 2sub-orders were found. In contrast, 55 foraminiferal species (51 benthic and 4planktonic species) were recorded at a non-estuarine site. They belong to 25genera, 11 families and 4 sub-orders. Spiroloculina tricarinata,Quinqueloculina vulgaris Rotallidium annectans, Rotallinoides papillosus,Ammonia beccarii, A.dentata, Elphidium discoidale, Amphistegina radiata,


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FORAMS 2006Annual shifts in inter-tidal foraminiferal diversity in the west coast of India

Gadi Subhadra Devi & K. P. Rajashekhar

and Poroeponides lateralis were found in abundance at both the locations buttheir TFN was higher at the non-estuarine site. Lagena leavis, Cancrisauriculus and Rosalina sp. were found only at the non-estuarine site, thoughin lesser numbers. Planktonic forms-Globigerina bulloides andGlobigerinoides ruber-were found at both sites. Well-marked seasonalvariations of foraminifera were also observed at both sites. Lowest densitiesand diversities were observed during monsoon and highest densities anddiversities of foraminifera were found during post-monsoon (winter). HighestTFN was recorded in January 05. The post-monsoon period is characterizedby the presence of R. annectans, R. papillosus and E. discoidale in abundance.

Maximum rainfall was recorded during the month of July (1223.7 mm atestuarine and 1096.9 mm non-estuarine sites respectively). This also reflectsthe rainfall pattern in the plains and the Western Ghats. Foraminiferal data formonsoon and non-monsoon periods show a profound correlation withsedimentological and hydrological data. Species diversity and total foraminiferalnumber were higher at the non-estuarine site through all the seasons anddeformed forms were scarce. Decreased salinity, and changes in otherenvironmental parameters resulted in low species diversity and TFN at theestuarine region. Relict foraminifera were found predominantly during themonsoon. This is probably due to tidal transportation of benthic relicts. Observedmorphological abnormalities are attributed to environmental stresses such aslow salinity, low Ph and low calcium. The study reveals that a moderate increasein salinity, organic matter, calcium carbonate and dissolved oxygen arepositively correlated with an increase in diversity and abundance of speciesfollowing the monsoon.

536

Stable isotope composition of Cretaceous benthic foraminifera:Biological and environmental effects

Oliver Friedrich1; Gerhard Schmiedl2 & Helmut Erlenkeuser3

1Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hannover, [email protected]

2Institut für Geophysik und Geologie, Universität Leipzig, Talstrasse 35, 04103 Leipzig, Germany3Leibniz-Labor für Altersbestimmung und Isotopenforschung,

Universität Kiel, Max-Eyth-Str. 11, 24118 Kiel, Germany

The stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of different benthicforaminiferal species of the latest Campanian and earliest Maastrichtian fromOcean Drilling Project Hole 690C (Weddell Sea, southern South Atlantic, ~1800m paleowater depth) have been investigated. The total range of measuredisotope values of all samples exceeds ~4‰ for δ13C and 1.1‰ for δ18O. Carbonisotope values of proposed deep infaunal species are generally similar or onlyslightly lower when compared to proposed epifaunal to shallow infaunal species.Inter-specific differences vary between samples probably reflecting temporalchanges in organic carbon fluxes to the sea floor. Constantly lower δ13C valuesfor Pullenia marssoni and Pullenia reussi suggest the deepest habitat forthese species. The strong depletion of δ13C values by up to 3‰ withinlenticulinids may be attributed to a deep infaunal microhabitat, strong vital effects,or different feeding strategy when compared to other species or modernlenticulinids. The mean δ18O values reveal a strong separation of epifaunal toshallow infaunal and deep infaunal species. Epifaunal to shallow infaunal speciesare characterized by low δ18O values, deep infaunal species by higher values.This result possibly reflects lower metabolic rates and longer life cycles ofdeep infaunal species or the operating of a pore water [CO3

2-] effect on thebenthic foraminiferal stable isotopes.

Pyramidina szajnochae shows an enrichment of oxygen isotopes withtest size comprising a total of 0.6‰ between 250 and 1,250 µm shell size.Although δ13C lacks a corresponding trend these data likely represent thepresence of changes in metabolic rates during ontogenesis. These resultsdemonstrate the general applicability of multi-species stable isotopemeasurements of pristine Cretaceous benthic foraminifera to reconstruct pastmicrohabitats and to evaluate biological and environmental effects on the stableisotope composition.


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537

Quaternary deep-sea benthic foraminifera from the southeastPacific Ocean: Distribution and dominance

Igor J.C. Gavriloff

Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán,Miguel Lillo 205, 4000 San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina - [email protected]

The Southeast Pacific Ocean is one of the lesser known regions in thepresent day world ocean. In this paper, the Quaternary deep-sea benthicforaminifera fauna is studied in this area, between 18ºS – 55ºS and 72ºW –77ºW. Seven Eltanin cores were studied from the Chile Basin, Peru-Chile Trench,Chile Ridge, Southeast Pacific Basin and Chilean continental slope, between1,223 and 4,841 meters of water depth. Ninety seven benthic deep-sea specieswere identified. The Quaternary faunal dominance in the region is compoundedby Eponides weddellensis and Epistominella exigua at depths between 3,000and 4,000 meters, with Osangulariella umbonifera as accompanying species.In several sites, the stratigraphic distribution of E. weddellensis and E. exiguashow a negative correlation or an alternate faunal dominance during the middleand upper Pleistocene. This suggests different ecological characteristics foreach species. In the actual biogeographical distribution, both species are assignedas “opportunistic phytodetritivorous species”. In one site at the Chile Basin(E3-9 core), E. weddellensis and E. exigua lose their alternate and dominantfaunal characteristics just below the Stilostomella extinction event level. Arelationship between the stratigraphic behavior of both species and the extinctionevent is suggested for this region. In the Chile Basin, north of the region atdepths greater than 4,000 meters, only a poor agglutinated benthic foraminiferalfauna is present in a top core sample (E3-7). It is characterized byPsammosphaera sp. and Glomospira gordialis, with low percentages ofAdercotryma glomeratum, Ammobaculites filiformis, Reophax sp., Pelosinasp. and Karrierella sp. The CCD in this region is at 4,000 meters. In the south,on the Chilean continental slope at depths of about 1,200 meters (E5-4 core),the faunal in lower Pleistocene sediments is dominated by Cassidulinareniforme and Trifarina angulosa, with C. subglobosa and Uvigerinahollicki occurring as accompanying species. Cassidulina reniforme is a typicalglaciomarine species. The latitude of site E5-4 (48ºS) coincides with the regionwhere the Patagonian Ice Sheet extended to the Chilean shelf-break duringthe Pleistocene. Benthic foraminiferal faunas from the Southeast Pacific presentseveral features that add new insight to environmental controls on foraminiferalspecies distributions.


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538

Deep-sea benthic foraminifera faunas andstable isotopes from the Portugal margin

Clementine Griveaud1; F. Jorissen1; E. Michel2 & P.Anschutz3

1Laboratoire d’Etude des Bio-indicateurs Actuels et fossiles, UPRES EA2644,Université d’Angers, 2bd Lavoisier, 49045 Angers, Cedex, France

[email protected] des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement. CNRS-CEA,

Allée de la Terrasse 91198 Gif/Yvette, Cedex, France3Département de Géologie et Océanographie, UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC,

Université Bordeaux1, Avenue des facultés, 33405 Talence, Cedex, France

The ecology (faunal density, composition, microhabitats) of benthicforaminifera from three deep stations (1,000 m, 2,000 m and 3,000 m) off thePortugal margin (Northwest Atlantic, 37-38°N) has been studied. Six coreswere picked for each station. In order to improve the understanding of factorscontrolling the spatial distribution of the faunas, the chemistry of the sediment(O2, NO3, …), as well as stable isotopes (δ18O, δ13C) have been analysed forspecies of four key genera that have different microhabitats (Cibicidoides/Fontbotia, Uvigerina, Melonis and Globobulimina).

Faunal densities decrease with increasing water depth, following thediminishing organic matter flux that reaches the see floor at greater depths.However, one core at station FP9 (3,000 m) exhibits a surprisingly high densitydue to the presence of a worm burrow, with the appearance of opportunisticspecies such as Pullenia bulloides, Fursenkoina sp., and Pyrgo elongata.In each station the deep infaunal Globobulimina affinis shows a maximumof abundance at the “oxygen zero” depth, which is in agreement withprevious studies.

Interspecific differences in stable isotopic composition are related to thedifferent microhabitats, with the deep infaunal species (Globobulimina affinis)having lighter values than shallow infaunal species (Uvigerina mediterranea).The Uvigerina species, however, show a wide scatter in δ18O as well asδ13C. This may be a function of the size of the specimen measured, but furtheranalyses are needed to confirm this trend.


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539

Paralic foraminiferal record of seven largeHolocene earthquakes in eastern New Zealand

Bruce W. Hayward1; Hugh R. Grenfell1; Ashwaq T. Sabaa1; Rowan Carter1;Margaret S. Morley1; Ursula Cochran2 & Jere H. Lipps3

1Geomarine Research, 49 Swainston Rd, St Johns, Auckland, New [email protected]

2Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30 368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand3Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Paleontology,

University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, U.S.A.

Most previous studies using foraminifera to help identify and quantifyHolocene earthquake displacements in tectonically-active coastal areas havefocussed on the record in high tidal marsh environments. In this study we showthat it is sometimes also possible to utilise low-tidal and shallow-subtidal faunasto identify large vertical displacement events.

Foraminiferal assemblages in eleven cores (3-7.5 m deep) of Holocenesediment from brackish Ahuriri Inlet in Hawke’s Bay, eastern New Zealand,provide a record of 8.5 m of subsidence followed by 1.5 m of uplift in the last7500 cal years. Modern Analogue Technique was used to estimate paleotidalelevation (subtidal to extreme high water spring level) of the 97 richestforaminiferal assemblages in the cores. The modern dataset comprised censuscounts on 272 faunas from New Zealand sheltered harbour and estuarineenvironments. The most precise elevational estimates are for marginal hightidal salt marsh assemblages and the least precise are from low tidal and subtidalassemblages from near the centre of the inlet. These paleoelevation estimatescombined with sediment thicknesses, age determinations (fromtephrostratigraphy and radiocarbon dates), the New Zealand Holocene sealevel curve, and estimates of compaction, identify the Holocene land elevationchanges and earthquake-displacement events in each core.

Because of the lower precision of elevational estimation in subtidal, low-tidal and terrestrial environments, no single core contains a precise record ofall the large displacement events. By combining the records from all cores,however, we recognise the following major, earthquake-related displacements:~7200cal yrs BP (>-0.6 m displacement); ~5800cal yrs BP; ~4200cal yrs BP


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FORAMS 2006Paralic foraminiferal record of seven large Holocene earthquakes in eastern New Zealand

Bruce W. Hayward; Hugh R. Grenfell; Ashwaq T. Sabaa; Rowan Carter;Margaret S. Morley; Ursula Cochran & Jere H. Lipps

(~ - 1.5 m); ~3000cal yrs BP (~-1.6 m); ~1600cal yrs BP (~ -1.7 m); ~600calyrs BP (~ -1m); 1931 AD Napier Earthquake (+1.5 m). The six, large (possiblysubduction interface) subsidence events in the last 7200 years have had areturn time of 1000-1400 years. In addition to recognising subsidence events,the foraminiferal record also documents 1.5 m of uplift during the devastating1931 Napier Earthquake, which was caused by near-surface slip on a localthrust fault.

541

Quantifying Holocene sea-level change using intertidalforaminifera: Lessons from the British Isles

Benjamin P. Horton1 & Robin J. Edwards2

1Sea Level Research Laboratory, Department of Earth and Environmental Science,University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6316, U.S.A.

[email protected] of Geography and Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

Salt-marsh foraminifera have been used to reconstruct Holocene sea-level changes from coastlines around the world. In this work, we compile theresults of surface foraminiferal surveys from fifteen study sites located on theeast, south and west coasts of Great Britain, and the west coast of Ireland.These data, which comprise 236 samples and 84 species, are used to summarizethe contemporary distributions of intertidal foraminifera around the British Isles,and to examine the environmental controls governing them.

Seasonal and sub-surface foraminiferal data suggest that foraminiferaldead assemblages provide the most appropriate dataset for studying patternsof foraminiferal distributions in the context of sea-level reconstruction. Incontrast to live populations or total assemblages, the dead assemblages areless affected by seasonal fluctuations and post-depositional modifications. Sub-surface foraminiferal data also indicate that foraminifera at the study sites liveprimarily in epifaunal habitats. Consequently, foraminiferal samples comprisingthe upper centimeter of sediment are appropriate analogues for the studyof past sea-level change employing fossil assemblages contained withinintertidal deposits.

Surface dead assemblages from the fifteen study sites indicate a verticalzonation of foraminifera within British and Irish salt-marshes that is similar tothose in other mid-latitude, cool temperate intertidal environments. Whilst thecomposition and vertical ranges of assemblage zones vary between sites, twogeneral sub-divisions can be made: an agglutinated assemblage restricted tothe vegetated marsh; and a high diversity calcareous assemblage that occupiesthe mudflats and sandflats of the intertidal zone. Three of the fifteen studysites permit further subdivision of the agglutinated assemblage into a high andmiddle marsh zone (Ia) dominated by Jadammina macrescens with differingabundances of Trochammina inflata and Miliammina fusca, and a low marsh


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FORAMS 2006Quantifying Holocene sea-level change using intertidal foraminifera: Lessons from the British Isles

Benjamin P. Horton & Robin J. Edwards

zone (Ib) dominated by M. fusca. The calcareous assemblage is commonlycomprised of Ammonia spp., Elphidium williamsoni and Haynesinagermanica, in association with a wide range of minor taxa.

The vertical zonations of the study areas suggest that the distribution offoraminifera in the intertidal zone is usually a direct function of elevation relativeto the tidal frame, with the duration and frequency of intertidal exposure as themost important controlling factors. This relationship is supported by canonicalcorrespondence analyses of the foraminiferal data and a series of environmentalvariables (elevation, pH, salinity, substrate and vegetation cover).

These modern foraminiferal data are used to develop predictive transferfunctions capable of inferring the past elevation of a sediment sample relativeto the tidal frame from its fossil foraminiferal content. The results indicate thattransfer functions perform most reliably when they are based on modern datacollected from a wide range of intertidal environments. The careful combinationof foraminiferal estimates of paleomarsh-surface elevation with detailedlithostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy can produce high-resolution recordsof relative sea-level change with sufficient resolution to detect low-magnitudevariability but long enough duration to reliably establish climate-oceanrelationships and secular trends. Thus, the transfer function approach has thepotential to link short-term instrumental and satellite records with establishedlonger-term geologically based reconstructions of relative sea level.

543

Benthic foraminiferal response to natural and man-madeeutrophicationin the oligotrophic southeast Mediterranean shelf

Orit Hyams1,2; Ahuva Almogi-Labin3; Chaim Benjamini1 & Barak Herut2

1Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev,Beer Sheva 84105, Israel - [email protected]

2Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, National Institute of Oceanography, Haifa31080, Israel - [email protected]

3Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem 95501, Israel

During the last decades, the very oligotrophic shallow water environmentof the SE Levantine basin has been subjected to both natural as well as man-made eutrophication influences covering the full range of trophic levels. Livingbenthic foraminifera are known to respond to environmental factors, and areabundant and diverse in the Israeli shallow shelf. The present study aims torecord the response of this group to changes in seasonality and trophic levels inthe inner shelf, using them as sensitive tracers of the natural and perturbedconditions. For this purpose, 3 permanent stations along the Israeli coast varyingbetween oligotrophic and hyper-eutrophic conditions are sampled bimonthly bythe R/V Shiqmona, including water column and sediment parameters. Totalstanding stocks (TSS), simple diversity and in-sediment distribution depth ofliving benthic foraminifera vary remarkably along the inner shelf, tracking thetrajectory of eutrophication. While the oligotrophic environments show highseasonality, TSS and biodiversity, the anthropogenically eutrophicenvironments show small seasonal variations and low to moderate TSS andsimple diversity values.


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544

Relationship of benthic foraminiferal diversity topaleoproductivity in the Neogene of the Caribbean deep-sea

Sreepat Jain & Laurel S. Collins

Department of Earth Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 33199, [email protected]

Diversity trends in late Miocene to Pliocene, Caribbean deep-sea benthicforaminifera >63 ì m, as interpreted from the indices Fisher’s á , Shannon-Weiner index, S and N, generally parallel paleoproductivity proxies (benthicforaminiferal infaunal/epifaunal species ratio, benthic foraminifer accumulationrates, flux of organic matter to the seafloor and benthic ä13C). Paleoproductivitynever reached a eutrophic threshold value above which we would predictopposite trends of high paleoproductivity and low diversity. Instead, results aresimilar to those from other oligotrophic settings in that a positive and statisticallysignificant Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (r) is noted betweenpaleoproductivity proxies and diversity. Increased relative abundances ofEpistominella exigua, a proxy for seasonal phytodetrital flux to the seafloorcoincides with increased diversity suggesting that pulsed paleoproductivityenhanced diversity or at least did not cause it to decrease. Additionally, evenduring the Late Miocene Carbon Isotope Shift (7.6-6.7 Ma, an interval ofenhanced paleoproductivity experienced globally, including the Caribbean),Caribbean diversity increased while the more eutrophic setting of the Pacificdisplayed decreased benthic foraminiferal diversity. Thus, it appears that beloweutrophic levels, diversity is positively correlated with diversity.

This pattern of Caribbean diversity and paleoproductivity was comparedto the timing of the late Miocene – early Pliocene constriction and closure ofthe Central American Seaway, which separated Caribbean and tropical Pacificwaters completely by about 4.2 Ma. Diversity and paleoproductivity in theCaribbean was high until about 7.9 Ma and sharply declined 7.9-7.6 Ma.Thereafter, until 4.2 Ma, both diversity and paleoproductivity generally increaseduntil after 4.2 Ma, when they gradually decreased. A comparison between thedeep-sea Pacific (DSDP Site 503) and Caribbean (ODP Site 999) for the interval8.25–2.5 Ma reveals greater fluctuations in the Caribbean benthic diversity ascompared to the Pacific, especially after 4.2 Ma, probably reflecting the greatereffect of seaway closure on the Caribbean. Thus, it appears that constrictionof the Central American Seaway generally increased both paleoproductivity andbenthic foraminiferal diversity, and complete seaway closure caused their decline.


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545

Spatial and temporal distribution of benthicforaminiferal faunas in the Bay Biscay

Frans J. Jorissen1; C. Fontanier1; G. Duchemin1; S. Hess1; S. Langenzaal2;C. Griveaud1; C. Barras1; J. Hohenegger3 & P. Anschutz4

1Laboratory of Recent and Fossil Bio-Indicators (BIAF), Université d’Angers, France &Laboratory of Marine Bio-Indicators (LEBIM), Port Joinville, Ile d’Yeu, France

[email protected] of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

3Institute of Paleontology, Vienna University, Vienna, Austria4EPOC (Oceanic Environments and Paleo-environments), Bordeaux I University, Bordeaux, France

This presentation gives an inventory of 10 years of research on theecology of benthic foraminifera in the Bay of Biscay. The density, compositionand microhabitats of living faunas collected at more than 25 stations from outershelf, continental slope and abyssal environments, will be explained by thequantity, quality and periodicity of the organic flux to the ocean floor. Faunascollected in submarine canyons substantially differ from open slope faunas,mainly due to the focussing of refractory organic particles in these environments.A large part of this low quality organic matter will be degraded by anaerobicpathways at several depth in the sediment. Some deep infaunal taxa play animportant role in these slow remineralisation processes. A more detailed studyshows also important differences between the various canyon sub-environments,where sediment instability seems to be a dominant controlling parameter. Canyonaxis environments, that are repeatedly disturbed by abrupt sediment depositionalevents, are inhabited by extremely rich, but low diverse faunas, that are restrictedto the sediment surface. Stations that are more sheltered from such abruptdepositional events, are characterised by much poorer, but more diverse fauna,with a well established microhabitat succession. An 8 year long temporal surveyof stations at 140, 550 and 1000 m water depth shows that the benthicforaminiferal faunas respond to the spring phytoplankton bloom by a period ofaccelerated growth and reproduction. Epistominella exigua, Nonionellairidea, Uvigerina mediterranea and Uvigerina peregrina show the strongestresponse to these events, underlining their opportunistic life strategy. Althoughmesoscale patchiness (decimetres to decametres) is sometimes important, itdoes not prevent us to observe temporal variability, which in most cases has amuch higher amplitude.


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546

Taphonomy of benthic foraminiferal tests from the JurujubaSound, Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Patricia B. P. Kfouri-Cardoso1; Marcello Guimarães Simões2; Sabrina CoelhoRodrigues3; Beatriz Beck Eichler1; Silvia Helena de Mello e Sousa1;

Patrícia Beck Eichler4 & Rubens César Lopes Figueira5

1Instituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São Paulo/USP, São Paulo, SP, [email protected]

2Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho/UNESP,Botucatu, SP, Brazil

3Instituto de Geociências, Programa de Pós-graduação, GSA, IGc/USP,Universidade de São Paulo/USP, SP, Brazil

4Delaware Geological Survey, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, U.S.A.5Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul/UNICSUL, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Besides the potential for post-mortem transport, foraminiferal testsdeposited in shallow water conditions are also potentially subject to abrasion,fragmentation, bioerosion and dissolution/corrosion. The extent in which theseprocesses act on the foraminiferal tests will depend on some intrinsical factors,such as, composition, microstructure, architectures, ornamentation, shellthickness, and test porosity. Microhabitat, substrate and water biogeochemicalconditions, and exposure time to the taphonomic processes mentioned aboveplay a role in the preservation of foraminiferal tests. In other words, thedestruction of foraminiferal tests depends on the interplay of extrinsical andintrinsical factors. The resulting taphocoenoses may be a modified and biasedportrait of a given living assemblage in terms of taxonomical and ecologicalcomposition. In the tropical shallow water, marine environments dissolution/corrosion of the calcareous tests is one of the main processes acting in thedestruction of benthic foraminiferal tests. In this study, we present a taphonomicanalysis of benthic foraminiferal tests found in one 1.88 m-thick, sandy core ofthe Jurujuba Sound (22º48’37’’S, 43º08’25’’W), Guanabara Bay (Rio de JaneiroState). This area was chosen taking into account the impact by urban sewagedischarges. Foraminiferal faunas, their taphonomy and associated geochemicalanalysis may all be combined to reveal the extent of these anthropogenic impactson the study area. Analyses include sediment grain size, heavy metals, taxonomiccomposition and the study of the taphonomic signatures (e.g., abrasion,fragmentation, dissolution/corrosion) of individual foraminiferal tests. Specialattention was given to the tests found in the upper 50 cm of the sediment core,


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FORAMS 2006Taphonomy of benthic foraminiferal tests from the Jurujuba Sound, Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Patricia B. P. Kfouri-Cardoso; Marcello Guimarães Simões; Sabrina Coelho Rodrigues; Beatriz Beck Eichler;Silvia Helena de Mello e Sousa; Patrícia Beck Eichler & Rubens César Lopes Figueira

which correspond to the taphonomically active zone (TAZ). The foraminiferalfauna is dominated by calcareous species (Ammonia tepida, Elphidium spp.Quinqueloculina seminulum). Results suggest that the microfaunalcomposition, abundance and density in the studied superficial sediment layersis related to acid (pH

548

Relating microfossil distribution patterns to deep-waterdepositional processes: A new biofacies model

based on Oligocene-Miocene deposits

K. A. Knabe; Y.-Y. Chen; T.-C. Huang & R. T. Beaubouef

ExxonMobil Exploration Company, P. O. Box 4778, Houston, Texas, [email protected]

Micropaleontologic studies of wells from the Atlantic Basin reveal large-scale variations in microfossil abundance patterns in deep-water mudstonesthat cannot be adequately explained using traditional paleoenvironmental models(e.g., water depth). Integration of foraminiferal, calcareous nannofossil andpalynologic data with e–log and seismic control suggests a relationship betweenthe presence or absence of deep-water slope channel systems and thedistribution of these microfossil groups. Depositional processes related to theslope channel systems appear to create different paleoecologic conditions thatgovern the distribution of major microfossil groups. Recent research on slopechannel hydrocarbon reservoirs provides an opportunity to evaluate microfossildistribution patterns relative to deep-water depositional environments.

A new biofacies model is developed that recognizes the important linksbetween paleoecology, sedimentary processes, and Environment of Deposition(EOD). Analyses of ditch cutting samples from wells in the bathyal (slope)environment have identified the following microfossil groups to be significant:planktonic, calcareous benthic and agglutinated benthic foraminifera; calcareousnannofossils; algae, spores, pollen, and kerogen (organic matter types). Fivebiofacies types are defined in non-reservoir facies based on abundances ofthese indicator groups. Three biofacies types are defined from intra-reservoirmudrocks. Based on this study the most important environmental factorsdetermining microfossil distribution are:

1) sedimentation rate;2) sediment source (terrestrial versus open marine); and3) availability of oxygen on the sea-floor and within the sediment.This biofacies model has been applied successfully in several deep-water

basins and is a potentially useful tool in hydrocarbon systems analysis of risksrelated to the presence and quality of source, seal and reservoir.


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549

Recent benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the nearshoreinner shelf in and around Alang shipbreaking yard,

Gulf of Khambat, India

Sabyasachi Majumdar1 & Amalesh Choudhury2

1Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Fort William, Kolkata 700 021, [email protected]

2S D Marine Biological Research Institute, Sagar Island, India

Coastal, estuarine and other marginal marine environments are recipientsfor various kinds of anthropogenic wastes, resulting in severe negative impactson the resident biota. Due to their abundance and better preservative potential,foraminifera serve as one of the most sensitive and inexpensive tracers inevaluating environmental stresses in the marginal marine environment.

Recent benthic foraminiferal studies were carried out during winter(December) and the pre-monsoon time (April) for 15 stations along 5 transectsin and around the Alang shipbreaking yard, the largest of its kind in the world.Two control transects (TI and TV), one each at the northern and southernends of Alang, as well as three other transects (TII, TIII and TIV) wereselected within the core zone to study benthic foraminiferal assemblages fromthe intertidal to areas 5km offshore. The shipbreaking activities inducedconsiderable ecological inhospitability due to pollution from heavy metals, oiland tar. Additionally, high tides and large suspended solids were also found tobe unfavourable for the benthic foraminifera.

A total of 49 species of Recent benthic foraminifera belonging to 25genera, 13 families and 3 suborders were identified. Poor faunal density anddiversity, poor health, absence of agglutinated forams, and formation of a ‘foramdead zone’ depicted the magnitude of environmental perturbation from the studysites. Of the five transects, the TII transect emerged as the most ecologicallyhostile, whereas the TI (control) transect was the most healthy.

Ammonia beccarii, Bolivina striatula, Elphidium simplex, Florilusschapha, Nonionellina turgida, Quinqueloculina seminulum and Triloculinabrevibentata were the most abundant species. Ammonia beccarii andNonionellina turgida appeared to be the opportunistic species of this stressedmarginal marine environment, managing to withstand the ecological crisis witha reasonable amount of success.


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550

Distribution and ecology of benthic foraminifera in thevicinity of Guadiana River (northern Gulf of Cadiz)

Isabel Mendes1; J. M. A. Dias2; J. Shönfeld3; R. Gonzalez4 & Ó. Ferreira2

1CIACOMAR/CIMA, Universidade do Algarve, Av. 16 de Junho s/n, 8700-311 Olhão, [email protected]

2FCMA/CIMA, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8000-139 Faro, Portugal3GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstr. 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany

4Vivel 73, 7482 Bergün, Switzerland

A comprehensive knowledge of the ecology and the distribution of modernforaminifera is essential for ecological and environmental interpretations ofmodern and ancient environments. The aim of this work is to investigate thedistribution and the ecology of living (stained) benthic foraminifera (>63ì m),revealing the environmental conditions, based on a set of samples collected inFebruary 2001 on the Guadiana shelf, between 12 and 90 m water depth.

The study area is located in the Northern Gulf of Cadiz, in the vicinity ofthe Guadiana estuary mouth. The region is characterised by waves of low tomedium energy, with the prevailing onshore wave conditions inducing a netannual drift from W to E. Oceanographically, it is influenced by North AtlanticSurface Water, a strong southeasterly inflow over the continental shelf, whichoccurs in the upper 300 m of the water column. Morphologically, this shelf iscomplex and influences the sediment distribution, with a succession of terracesbetween 30 and 50 m delimiting a sandy inner shelf from a muddy middle shelf.

The stained benthic foraminifera fauna from the Guadiana continentalshelf (abundance > 5%) is diverse and occupies a variety of niches. Bolivinaordinaria is the most abundant species with values of 50%, occurring atdifferent depths with no relation to sediment type. Cribrononion gerthi andEggerelloides scaber showed higher abundances (7.25 and 8.5%, respectively)at water depths around 20m, associated with a mixture of coarse sedimentsand mud. Spiroloxostoma croarae showed the same behaviour; however, thehighest abundance of 20% was observed at 36m water depth. Bolivina dilatata,Brizalina spathulata, Nonionella iridea and Nonionella stella were mostcommonly found above 45m water depth, associated with mud and sandy mud.Around 40m water depth, Rectuvigerina phlegeri and Saccammina atlanticashowed the higher abundances to the east of the Guadiana River mouth,associated with sandy mud sediments. In general, the number of benthicforaminifera per 10cm3 increased seaward and had the lowest values near theGuadiana River mouth.


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FORAMS 2006Distribution and ecology of benthic foraminifera in the vicinity of Guadiana River (northern Gulf of Cadiz)

Isabel Mendes; J. M. A. Dias; J. Shönfeld; R. Gonzalez & Ó. Ferreira

The observed living benthic foraminiferal faunas are similar to totalassemblages described by other studies in the same and adjacent areas (Mendeset al., 2004. Mar. Micro., 51: 171-192), although the abundance and distributionof the same species are different. The higher percentages of B. ordinaria andN. iridea compared with total assemblages described by Mendes et al. (2004)could be related to the different dates of sample collection, suggesting that thevariation in abundance of these species could be related to reproductive periods.The biocenoses of C. gerthi and E. scaber had similar distributions to totalassemblages, indicating that they live in this area and are not affected bytransport. Species such as Planorbulina mediterranensis, described byMendes et al. (2004) in shallow areas, showed lower abundances (

552

Latitudinal and sediment depth gradients in foraminiferalassemblage of the southeast Atlantic

Stefan Müllegger & Werner E. Piller

Institute for Earth Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, [email protected]

During Meteor cruise 63/2 to the Southeast Atlantic in March 2005,sixty-one sediment cores were sampled to study foraminifera. Repeatedmulticorer hauls between S 30° and the equator yielded samples for thereconstruction of oceanic parameters by use of planktic and benthic foraminiferaand crucial sediment parameters. As samples were taken in horizontal slices(0–5 cm: 0.5 cm steps; 5–15 cm: 1 cm steps; 15–35 cm: 5cm steps) changes insedimentation and productivity can be reconstructed. Assuming expectedsedimentation rates below 3cm/1.ka (Ruddiman, 2001. Earth‘s climate; W.H.Freeman & Co., New York; Pierre et al., 2001. Proc. ODP, Sci. Results 175:1-22), the time spanned may be at least 10 kyr. All sample sites are between5,000 and 5,600 m water depth. Nevertheless, calcareous foraminiferal testsare a frequent component of grain fractions >125 ìm. This indicates that thecalcite compensation depth (CCD) lies deeper than 5,600 m in the studiedareas of the Southeast Atlantic. This assumption is supported by the fact thateven fractured, aragonitic pteropod shells were found in some surface sedimentsamples. Sample sites were chosen along a north-south transect to documentinteractions between faunal alteration and sedimentary and oceanic parameters.The investigated samples show clear differences in sedimentation and faunalcomposition for the three investigated deep-sea basins.

Sedimentation: Whereas samples from the Guinea Basin show constantsedimentation dominated by carbonate secreting organisms (mainly foraminiferaand Coccolithophorida), Angola and Cape Basin samples show a differentsituation. In northern Angola as well as in northern Cape Basin, surface samplesare composed of mainly biogenic opal in the sand fraction and various contentsof terrigenous material in the sand, silt and clay fractions. At sediment depthsof 7-8 cm in the Cape Basin and 10-11 cm in the Angola Basin, a completechange in sediment composition is obvious with a nearly equal silicate/carbonateratio. At a sediment depth of 14 cm in the Angola Basin, sediments are similarto those of the Guinea Basin, with a high calcareous biogenic proportion. Thechange in sediment composition is also manifested in different sediment colours,varying from brownish-black in surface sediments to dark yellowish brown at


FORAMS 2006


FORAMS 2006Latitudinal and sediment depth gradients in foraminiferal assemblage of the southeast Atlantic

Stefan Müllegger & Werner E. Piller

20 cm sediment depth. A similar situation is observed in the sediment record ofthe northern Cape Basin at S 30°. A change from siliceous to carbonatesedimentation with increasing sediment depth is visible. Various proportions ofterrigenous material of all grain size fractions are obvious. In general, an increasein the content of clastic sedimentation with increasing latitude was observed.

Foraminifera: For a first, semiquantitative analysis, one core from eachinvestigated abyssal basin was processed. Compared to the Guinea and Angolabasins, a loss of warm-water species in the planktic foraminiferal assemblagesin favour of transitional species was observed in the northern Cape Basin. At asediment depth of 15 cm in the Cape Basin, mainly Globorotalia scitula,Globorotalia inflata and Globorotalia truncatulinoides, and ancillaryOrbulina universa and Globigerinella siphonifera, dominate in the sedimentfraction > 250 ìm. In Angola Basin sediments, Globorotalia scitula as wellas Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globigerinella siphonifera are absent,whereas Globorotalia tumida, Globorotalia cultrata, Sphaeroidinelladehiscens, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei and Globorotalia crassaformisappear. A minor change in planktic foraminifera assemblages is obvious betweenthe northern Angola and the Guinea basins. All species occuring in the AngolaBasin are present in the Guinea Basin except Globorotalia inflata.Pulleniatina obliquiloculata and Globigerinoides ruber, and ancillaryGlobigerinoides sacculifer, appear in the Guinea Basin but neither in theAngola nor in the Cape Basin.

554

Foraminifera as health bioindicators in nearshoreand offshore Brazilian coral reef sediments

Patricia Oliveira-Silva1; Cátia Fernandes Barbosa1; José Carlos Sícoli Seoane2;Beatrice Padovani Ferreira3; Renato C. Cordeiro1; Abilio Soares-Gomes4;

Carine M. de Almeida4; Gustavo P. Queiroz4; Débora Duran4 & Thais Lamana4

1Departamento de Geoquímica, Universidade Federal Fluminense/UFF.Outeiro de São João Batista, s/no, 5o andar, Centro, Niterói, 24020-007, RJ, Brazil

[email protected]. de Geologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro/UFRJ,

Av. Oscar Trompowsky s/no, Ilha do fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil3Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco/UFPE,

Av. Arquitetura s/no, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, Brazil4 Depto. de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Federal Fluminense/UFF,

Outeiro de São João Batista s/no,Instituto de Biologia, Centro, Niterói, 24020-007, RJ, Brazil

Coral reefs are among the most ecologically diverse ecosystems on Earth,where the occurrence of symbiotic relationships allows recycling and efficientuse of limited nutrient resources. Current problems related to coral reefs includephysical, chemical and biological damage caused by anthropogenic influencesor natural impacts, in addition to temperature oscillations. The present work ispart of PROBIO, a major program sponsored by the Brazilian EnvironmentalMinistry. PROBIO has an objective of identifying along the Brazilian coastlinepossible bioindicators of climatic changes, and subsequently applying them aspowerful tools for monitoring programs and coastal management. This paper isone of the results of the FOCO Project (sponsored by PROBIO), in which wepresent the application of the FORAM INDEX (FI) mapping impact frontsusing GIS at a 1:25,000 scale. The FI is applied to four different Brazilian coralreef systems, APA Costa dos Corais (PE) and Porto Seguro (BA) coastalareas, as well as in offshore reefs from Fernando de Noronha (PE) and AbrolhosBank (BA), in order to verify and compare health conditions. A total of 72 reefsediment samples were collected and 18 geochemical analyses conducted foreach area in January 2005 and July 2005, to account for summer and winterseasonal variability. Samples were collected using scuba equipment, andparameters measured on-site included visibility, water temperature, salinity anddissolved oxygen, both at the surface and at depth, while sampled sedimentswere analyzed for carbonate, phosphorus, and organic matter, as well as


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FORAMS 2006Foraminifera as health bioindicators in nearshore and offshore Brazilian coral reef sediments

Patricia Oliveira-Silva; Cátia Fernandes Barbosa; José Carlos Sícoli Seoane;Beatrice Padovani Ferreira; Renato C. Cordeiro; Abilio Soares-Gomes;

Carine M. de Almeida; Gustavo P. Queiroz; Débora Duran & Thais Lamana

mineralogy and grain size. At the laboratory, foraminifera were identified undera stereomicroscope to the specific level. After that, foraminifera genera wereseparated into functional groups and submitted to the index, with values rangingfrom 2.0 to 9.07, as in the Abrolhos Bank reefs. The environmental protectionarea at APA Costa dos Corais had the worst FI values (2.26-6.70) in comparisonto the other areas. This may be explained by tourism pressures, a fishery andloss of biodiversity, which contributes physically to damaging the coral colonies,and by the historical culture of sugar cane plantations that supply an excess ofnutrients and organic matter to rivers which reach this site. The results suggestthat foraminifera can be used not only as a low cost bioindicator to evaluatethe health of Brazilian reefs but also as a powerful tool for coastal management.

556

Bioevents correlation of planktic foraminifers and radiolariansfrom the Cenomanian to Turonian, southeastern Mexico

María Ornelas-Sánchez; S. Franco Navarrete & M. Granados Martinez

Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Gerencia de Geociencias, Edificio 6,Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas, 152,

San Bartolo Atepehuacan, C.P. 07730, México D.F., Mé[email protected]

The correlation of extinction and diversification events of plankticforaminifers and radiolarians from the Cenomanian to the Turonian, in wellsand outcrops of Southeastern Mexico, is related to the global Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE2). Patterns of diversification andextinction events of planktic foraminifers (Rotalipora, Whiteinella,Hedbergella and Heterohelix) and radiolarians were analyzed and correlatedin wells of the Sonda de Campeche and outcrops of Southeastern Mexico.These events were identified within the Rotalipora brotzeni, Rotaliporacushmani, Whiteinella archaeocretacea and Helvetoglobotruncanahelvetica zones from the Cenomanian to the Turonian. Based on the abundancepatterns and the interpretation of gamma ray logs, maximum flooding surfacesand condensed sections were interpreted. The transgressive sequence fromthe Albian to the Turonian interpreted for this time caused changes in thesedimentation and the paleoecology of the area and consequently, thediversification and gradual and/or total extinction of planktic foraminifers andother microfossils.

During the upper Cenomanian, within the Rotalipora cushmani Zonein the Rotalipora greenhornensis Subzone, several abundance peaks ofradiolarians and heterohelicids and hedbergelids were identified. Theseabundance peaks occurred during deposition of bituminous and argillaceouslimestones containing pyrite and organic matter, possibly in low-oxygenconditions. The abundance peaks of radiolarians and heterohelicids areintercalated with abundance peaks of rotaliporids and praeglobotruncanids inmore calcareous limestones. These changes are interpreted as a consequenceof sea level changes.

In the upper part of the Rotalipora greenhornensis Subzone, anabundance peak of radiolarians with Heterohelix moremani and H. reussirepresents a flooding surface and maybe a sequence boundary. In the uppermostCenomanian within the Rotalipora cushmanni Zone, in the lower part of the


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FORAMS 2006Bioevents correlation of planktic foraminifers and radiolarians from the Cenomanian to

Turonian, southeastern MexicoMaría Ornelas-Sánchez; S. Franco Navarrete & M. Granados Martinez

Dicarinella algeriana Subzone, there is a diversification event of Rotaliporacushmanni, which then became extinct at the end of the Subzone. The extinctionof R. cushmanni is considered to be a global event that preceded the globalCenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE2). The OAE2 isrepresented in southeastern Mexico by diversification and abundance eventsof silicified and calcified radiolarians deposited in black shales with a high organicmatter content, pyrite and lenses of chert, deposited in low-oxygen conditionsand belonging to the Whiteinella archaoecretacea Zone.

The Cenomanian-Turonian event in this area was interpreted as amaximum flooding surface that represents a condensed sequence, characterizedby an abundance peak of silicified radiolarians and fragments of fishes, as wellas Whiteinella. For the lower-middle Turonian within theHelvetoglobotruncana helvetica Zone, more stable oxygen conditions areevident by the diversification of marginotruncanids and the presence of morecalcareous limestones containing Helvetoglobotruncana, Marginotruncanaand Dicarinella.

558

Bipolar distribution of deep-sea benthic foraminifera

Jan Pawlowski1; B. Lecroq1; D. Longet1; J. Fahrni1;A. Gooday2; N. Cornelius3 & T. Cedhagen4

1Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of Geneva, [email protected]

2National Oceanographic Center, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, U.K.3Natural History Museum, London, U.K.

4University of Aarhus, Department of Marine Ecology, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark

Biodiversity in deep-sea sediments is extraordinarily rich at a local scale.It is disputable, however, to what extent the high local species richness ofabyssal faunas can be extrapolated to larger spatial scales. The accurateassessment of regional and global deep-sea diversity is impeded by a lack ofdata on dispersal ranges of species at the ocean floor, particularly at the geneticlevel. To test the capability for long-distance dispersal of deep-sea foraminiferalspecies, we examined the genetic diversity of Arctic and Antarctic populationsof three common, deep-sea rotaliids, Epistominella exigua, Cibicideswuellerstorfi and Oridorsalis umbonatus, collected during recent R/VPolarstern cruises, including the ANDEEP III campaign in the Southern Ocean.Our analyses revealed no significant genetic differences between polarpopulations of the examined morphospecies, even in an extremely variable ITSregion of the ribosomal DNA. This result provides strong evidence that a highgene flow occurs between populations of deep-sea species separated by longdistances. The genetic homogeneity of Arctic and Antarctic deep-seaforaminifera suggests that deep-sea biodiversity may be more modest at regionaland global scales than present estimates suggest.


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559

Surface distribution of foraminifera from the Morbihan’sGulf, France: Study for paleoenvironmental reconstructions

Lucia Perez-Belmonte & Evelyne Goubert

Université de Bretagne Sud, Campus Tohannic, LEMEL,Géosciences Rennes UMR , 56 017 Vannes Cedex, France

[email protected]

Micro- to Macro-scale Foraminiferal Distributions ...indicate warm water as Globigerinoides ruber and Globorotalia menardii s.l. show an increasing frequency from the top to 40 cm

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