Benthic foraminiferal assemblage of Seogwipo Formation in Jeju Island, South Sea of Korea: Implication for late Pliocene to early Pleistocene cold episode in the northwestern Pacific margin

Site U1512 was drilled during Expedition 369 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), which is located in the Great Australian Bight, southern Indian Ocean. It provides exceptional insights into the benthic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and paleoecology of a high southern latitude restricted marginal marine basin during the Late Cretaceous hot greenhouse climate and the rifting between Australia and Antarctica. The sedimentary sequence recovered at Site U1512 presents a rare record of a deep water agglutinated foraminifera (DWAF) community from the Southern High Latitudes. The Cretaceous record at Site U1512 covers the lower Turonian through Santonian (nannofossil zones UC8b to UC12/CC10b to CC16, H. helvetica to Marginotruncana spp. - Planoheterohelix papula - Globotruncana linneana planktonic foraminifera zones). Diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblages yield many new taxa that are yet to be described.Agglutinated forms dominate the assemblage in most intervals. In lower to mid Turonian and Santonian strata, calcareous benthic as well as planktonic foraminifera are frequent. Abundant radiolaria are recovered from the mid Turonian, and they increase up-section and exceed 50% of the microfossil assemblage. We documented a diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblage consisting of 162 taxa (110 agglutinated and 52 calcareous). The most common taxa of the DWAF assemblage are tubular (i.e., Kalamopsis grzybowskii, Bathysiphon spp.) and planispiral forms (i.e., Ammodiscus spp., Haplophragmoides spp., Buzasina sp., Labrospira spp.).The Turonian strata yield highly abundant Bulbobaculites problematicus and Spiroplectammina navarroana. The presence of the agglutinated foraminiferal marker taxa Uvigerinammina jankoi and Bulbobaculites problematicus provides a tie-point to the Tethyan DWAF biozonation of Geroch and Nowak (1984). The composition of foraminiferal assemblages and the increase in radiolaria abundance suggest unstable environmental conditions at Site U1512 during the early Turonian through Santonian. These characteristics refer to changes in bathymetry associated with changing ocean chemistry. Results of quantitative analyses of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate a restricted paleoenvironmental regime, dictated by changes in paleobathymetry, unstable patterns in ocean circulation, and the discharge of a nearby river delta system.References: Geroch, S., Nowak, K., 1984. Proposal of zonation for the Late Tithonian &#8211; late Eocene. based upon arenaceous Foraminifera from the Outer Carpathians, Poland, 225-239, In: Oertli, H.J. (Ed.), Benthos &#180;83; 2nd international 915 Symposium on Benthic Foraminifera, Pau (France) April 11-15, 1983, Elf Aquitaine, ESO REP and TOTAL CFP, Pau and Bordeaux.&#160;

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Khorbas: a Lower Palaeolithic site on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf

Antiquity ◽

10.15184/aqy.2017.91 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 91 (358) ◽

Author(s):

Sirvan Mohammadi Ghasrian

Keyword(s):

Persian Gulf ◽

Early Pleistocene ◽

Fars Province ◽

Potential Importance ◽

Zagros Mountains ◽

The West ◽

Qeshm Island ◽

Late Pliocene ◽

The Persian Gulf ◽

Lower Palaeolithic

Despite the potential importance of southern Iran, and the Persian Gulf area in particular, for discussions on the dispersal of early hominins from Africa into Eurasia during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene (Bar-Yosef & Belfer-Cohen 2001; Rose 2010), this area has remained almost unexplored until recently. Historically, Palaeolithic survey and excavations in Iran have mainly concentrated in western regions, especially the Zagros Mountains. As a result of recent studies, however, evidence for Palaeolithic sites in the southern regions of Iran, from Fars province to Qeshm Island, has greatly increased (Dashtizade 2009, 2010). Even with this improvement, no sites of Lower Palaeolithic date have yet been reported from the southern coastal areas on one of the proposed early hominin routes into Eurasia. As a result, it has been suggested that the few Lower Palaeolithic sites reported from other parts of Iran, especially in the west (e.g. Biglari & Shidrang 2006), were not populated from the south.

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Nummulites Fayumensis N. Sp. and Nummulites Tenuissimus N. Sp. from Munquar El-rayan, Fayum, Egypt

The Journal of Foraminiferal Research ◽

10.2113/gsjfr.48.1.17 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 17-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Safia Al Menoufy ◽

Mohamed Boukhary

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Foraminiferal Assemblage ◽

Shallow Marine ◽

Marine Facies ◽

Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblage ◽

Insight Into ◽

Important Site

Abstract Nummulites fayumensis n. sp. and Nummulites tenuissimus n. sp. are described from the Munqar El-Rayan Section, Fayum, Egypt. Nummulites tenuissimus belongs to the N. partschi group, while N. fayumensis belongs to the N. gizehensis group, based on diameter and protoconch sizes, septal shape and granulations. Both new species are of Lutetian age, assigned to SBZ14/15, and encountered in shallow-marine facies. Wadi El-Rayan is an important site for vertebrate fossils in Egypt and the abundant larger benthic foraminiferal assemblage provides insight into paleoenvironmental parameters associated with the deposition of Eocene-age rock units of the Munqar El-Rayan Section.

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