The Later Holocene Foraminifera of Liverpool Bay (Bae Lerpwl), British Isles: Morphospecies and Community Level Patterns

Abstract

Two cores were studied from Liverpool Bay (∼40 m water depth). The lowest 80 cm of ISLF13 (290 cm long) comprised clay, gypsum and pyritised foraminifera (Surface Layer 2 Member, gypsiferous lithofacies GLF) from a tidal flat dominated by Cribroelphidium excavatum. Perturbation Detection Analysis (PDA) found two ISLF13 GLF abundance biozones (ABs) with assemblages in stasis. ISLF16 (80 cm long) and between 30–202 cm in ISLF13 were open marine, sandy with gastropods and bivalves (Surface Layer 1 Member, shelly sand lithofacies SSLF). Assemblages in the SSLF sections differed, despite their proximity. That in ISLF13 comprised dominant C. excavatum with lesser Ammonia batava, Asterigerinata mamilla, Cibicides refulgens and Bulimina elongata. PDA identified two ISLF13 SSLF ABs, both in growth stages. The ISLF16 assemblage was co-dominated by C. excavatum, A. mamilla and A. batava from a single AB in stasis. This difference might reflect sorting. Asterigerinata murraynhaynesi n. sp. is described.