Preliminary data on the Holocene foraminifera of the Cilento continental shelf (Tyrrhenian Sea).

Abstract

The present paper supplies the first data on the foraminiferal assemblages and ecology in Holocene surface sediments of the Campanian continental shelf, in the area off the Cilento promontory. Different types of assemblages have been distinguished and they have been related with parameters as depth, type of sediment and presence of algal and plant remains. Our study has pointed out the strong prevalence of benthic species both in infr alittoral and circalittoral samples and the absence of species that are extinct or indicative of particular paleoclimatic episodes. The age of the assemblages is therefore Holocene, with the exception of a group of foraminifers, presumably reworked, similar to microfaunas of Tyrrhenian age. The composition of the assemblages, in relation with the known chemical-physical parameters (type of sediment, algal and plant remains, fluvial input and water-depth) has put in evidence that: - there is an almost perfect agreement, both in the infralittoral and in the circalittoral zone, between type of sediment and the characteristic foraminiferal assemblages; - as to the algal and plant remains, present in ali the samples, in the infralittoral zone the abundance of epiphytic species is in agreement with the presence of P.oceanica and of crusty and branching Melobesioideae; - on the contrary in the circalittoral zone the presence of epiphytic species, along with alga! remains, is probably due to phenomena of transport from shallower levels.