Paleogene Abyssal Foraminifers from the Cape and Angola Basins, South Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

The recovery of calcareous-rich sediments of Paleogene age from three sites in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean provided the opportunity to document the rich abyssal benthic foraminiferal fauna contained within them. The faunal dominance patterns observed at these sites are generally similar to those observed elsewhere in the abyssal Atlantic. There is no unusual faunal turnover at the Oligocene/Eocene boundary, although faunal changes are marked between the middle and upper Eocene.

Late Eocene to Recent Deep-Sea Benthic Foraminifers from the Central Equatorial Pacific Ocean

“…Generally, the observations at Site 574 agree well with Corliss (1981), Miller (1983, Clark and Wright (1984), Snyder et al (1984), Miller et al (in press), and Wood et al (in press) in that no major changes occurred at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary in the dominant species of benthic foraminifers, although some relatively rare species have FAs or LAs close to the boundary.…”

“…These changes, however, cannot be dated unequivocally in the Bay of Biscay because of hiatuses in the upper Eocene. Tjalsma and Lohmann (1983), , and Clark and Wright (1984) studied material from the Atlantic Ocean. They concluded that there was no major crisis in abyssal benthic faunas close to the Eocene/Oliogocene boundary, but that there were gradual changes from the middle Eocene through the early Oligocene (i.e., mainly before the major shift in isotopic ratios).…”

Middle Eocene benthic foraminifers from Holes 960A and 960C, central Atlantic Ocean

“…Thus, the Eocene central Atlantic assemblage is present in the Tethyan realm as well (Proto Decima and Bolli, 1978;Clark and Wright, 1984;Bolli et al, 1994).…”

Late Oligocene to Late Pliocene Benthic Foraminifers from Depth Traverses in the Central Indian Ocean

“…umbonifera. Either through dissolution, redeposition, or ecology, bottom-water faunas close to 3800 mbsl differ from their southern Atlantic analogs Clarke and Wright, 1984;Boersma, 1985a) in their scarcity of TV. umbonifera.…”

“…Most typical of this water type are the uvigerinids, which occur in the higher latitude South Atlantic and the southeastern Indian Oceans, but not in the modern Mascarene Basin. Indexes for this water mass include C. carinata, P. bulloides, B. aculeata, and in the South Atlantic Astrononion (Corliss, 1983;Hodell et al, 1985;Clarke and Wright, 1984;Boersma, 1985b;Mead, 1985).…”