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Full-Text Articles in Paleobiology

Neogene Changes In Caribbean Paleoproductivity And The Diversity And Paleobiogeography Of Deep-Sea Benthic Foraminifera, Crystal Pletka Mar 2016

Neogene Changes In Caribbean Paleoproductivity And The Diversity And Paleobiogeography Of Deep-Sea Benthic Foraminifera, Crystal Pletka

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Neogene history of Caribbean deep-sea benthic foraminifera was investigated by calculating changes in paleoproductivity, diversity and paleobiogeography ~26 to 2 Ma, which includes the progressive closure of the Central American Seaway. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) Paleoproductivity values prior to closure of the Central American Seaway are similar in both the Caribbean and equatorial Pacific and then diverge by the time of early shoaling events; (2) Diversity values of benthic foraminifera prior to the closure of the Central American Seaway were similar in the Caribbean and EEP, and had changed by the time of early shoaling; and (3) during …


Biogeography Of The Late Paleocene Benthic Foraminiferal Extinction, Ellen Thomas Dec 1997

Biogeography Of The Late Paleocene Benthic Foraminiferal Extinction, Ellen Thomas

Ellen Thomas

During the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum (LPTM) benthic foraminifera at middle bathyal and greater depths suffered extinction of 30-50% of species during a few thousand years. Extinction was less severe at neritic to upper bathyal depths, where temporary changes in faunal composition prevailed. Pre-extinction deep-sea faunas were cosmopolitan and diverse, and contained heavily calcified species. Immediate post-extinction faunas were more variable geographically, exhibited low diversity, and were dominated by thin-walled calcareous or agglutinated taxa, possibly because CaCO3 dissolution increased globally from neritic to abyssal depths just before the extinction. These assemblages were dominated either by long-lived taxa such as Nuttallides …