Recent benthic foraminiferal biofacies in the Bakkhali region, West Bengal, India

Authors

  • Ishita Das
     Department of Geology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata – 700019, West Bengal
  • Anupam Ghosh
     Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata – 700032, West Bengal
  • Dipankar Buragohain
     Department of Geology, Gargaon College, Simaluguri, Sivasagar - 785686, Assam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v123/i1/2023/153208

Keywords:

Bakkhali, Bay of Bengal, Benthic Foraminifera, Intertidal Flats, Marsh

Abstract

Coastal areas are transition zones and hence, are susceptible to dynamic changes. To understand the seasonal changes in benthic foraminiferal distribution, a study based on surface sampling was carried in two distinct sub-environments – intertidal flats (Bakkhali, Fraserganj) and marsh areas (Patibhunia and Henry’s Island). Two short cores (~16 cm) were procured to observe the changes in foraminiferal signatures from top sediment surface to down the core. The characteristic foraminiferal population consists of Ammonia beccarii, Ammonia tepida, Asterorotalia pulchella, Haynesina depressula, Haynesina germanica, Nonionella labradorica, Nonionella turgida, Quinqueloculina seminulum, Cribroelphidium hispidulum, Cribroelphidium poeynum, Trochammina inflata, Miliammina spp., Haplophragmoides canariensis, Haplophragmoides wilberti and Ammodiscus evolutus. The abundance of foraminifera increases from tens to few hundreds and species richness increases from 4 to 8 on an average as we move from the western locations to the eastern locations of the study area. Agglutinated species were dominant in the marsh areas whereas, the intertidal flat consists of calcareous forms. Overall, the diversity of foraminiferal assemblages is poor.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2023-09-30

How to Cite

Das, I., Ghosh, A., & Buragohain, D. (2023). Recent benthic foraminiferal biofacies in the Bakkhali region, West Bengal, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 123(1), 83–98. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v123/i1/2023/153208

Issue

Volume 123, Issue 1, 2023

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Alve, E. and Murray, J. W. 1999. Marginal marine environments of the Skagerrak and Kattegat: A baseline study of living (stained) benthic foraminiferal ecology. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 146: 171-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031- 0182(98)00131-X

Banerjee, K., Senthilkumar B., Purvaja, R. and Ramesh, R. 2012. Sedimentation and trace metal distribution in selected locations of Sunderbans mangroves and Hooghly estuary Northeast coast of India. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 34: 27-42. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10653-011-9388-0

Barker, R. W. 1960. Taxonomic notes. Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication 9, Tulsa, Oklahoma (pp. 238).

Caulle, C., Koho, K. A., Motjahid, M., Reichart, G. J. and Jorissen, F. J. 2014. Live (rose Bengal stained) foraminiferal faunas from the northern Arabian Sea: Faunal succession within and below the OMZ. Biogeosciences, 11: 1155-1175. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg- 11-1155-2014

Caulle, C., Motjahid, M., Gooday, A. J., Jorissen, F. J. and Kitazato, H. 2015. Living (rose-Bengal stained) benthic foraminiferal faunas along a strong bottom-water oxygen gradient on the Indian margin (Arabian Sea). Biogeosciences, 12: 5005-5019. https://doi. org/10.5194/bg-12-5005-2015

Chakraborty, S. K. and Datta, T. K. 2018. Relevance of meiobenthic research: Indian perspectives, Examines in Marine Biology & Oceanography. 1(4): EIMBO.000523.2018.

Choudhuri, A. B. and Choudhury, A. 1994. In Mangroves of the Sunderbans, Volume I, India, IUCN, Bangkok.

Corliss, B. H. 1985. Microhabitats of benthic foraminifera within deep-sea sediments. Nature, 314: 435-438. https://doi. org/10.1038/314435a0

Corliss, B. H. and Chen, C. 1988. Morphotype patterns of Norwegian Sea deep-sea benthic foraminifera and ecological implications. Geology, 16: 716-719. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1988)016<0716:MPONSD>2.3.CO;2

Das, G. D. 2015. Estuarine morphodynamics of the Sunderbans. Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-319-11343-2

Das, I., Ghosh, A. and Buragohain, D. 2019. A study of microhabitat of intertidal foraminifera from Chandipur Coast, Odisha. Journal of Palaeontological Society of India, 64 (1): 49-60. Devi, G. S. and Rajshekhara, K. P. 2009. Intertidal Foraminifera of Indian coast - a scanning electron photomicrograph-illustrated catalogue. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 1 (1): 17-36. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o1977.17-36

Gandhi, M. S., Solai, A. and Mohan, S. P. 2007. Benthic foraminiferal and its environmental degradation studies between the tsunamigenic sediments of Mandapam and Tuticorin, south east coast of India. Science of Tsunami Hazards, 26: 115-128.

Ghosh, A. 2012. Estuarine foraminifera from the Gulf of Cambay. Journal Geological Society of India, 80: 65-74. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12594-012-0119-7

Ghosh, A., Biswas, S. and Burman, P. 2014. Marsh foraminiferal assemblages in relation to vegetation in Sunderban, India. Journal Geological Society of India, 84: 657-667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-014-0176-1

Horton, B. J. and Edwards, R. J. 2006. Quantifying holocene sea level change using intertidal foraminifera: Lessons from the British Isles. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research, 40: 65-77.

Jorissen, F. J., de Stigter, H. C. and Widmark, J. G. V. 1995. A conceptual model explaining benthic foraminiferal microhabitats. Marine Micropaleontology, 26 (1-4): 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8398(95)00047-X

Kathal, P. K. 2002. Taxonomy, distribution patterns and ecology of recent littoral foraminifera of the east coast of India. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen, 224 (1): 115-160. https://doi.org/10.1127/njgpa/224/2002/115

Loeblich, A. R. and Tappan, H. 1988. Foraminiferal genera and their classification. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5760-3

Manasa, M., Saraswat, R. and Nigam, R. 2016. Assessing the suitability of benthic foraminiferal morpho-groups to reconstruct paleomonsoon from Bay of Bengal. Journal of Earth System Science, 125 (3): 571-584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-016-0677-y

Mitra, A., Banerjee, L., Sengupta, K. and Gangopadhyay, A. 2009. Pulse of climate change in Indian Sundarbans: Amyth or reality, National Academy Science Letters 32(1): 1-7.

Murray, J. W. 2001. The niche of benthic foraminifera, critical thresholds and proxies. Marine Micropaleontology, 41: 1–7. https://doi. org/10.1016/S0377-8398(00)00057-8

Nigam, R., Khare, N. and Borole, D. V. 1992. Can benthic foraminiferal morphogroups be used as indicators of paleomonsoonal precipitation? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 34 (6): 533-542. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7714(05)80060-5.

Nigam, R., Kurtakar, S. R., Saraswat, R., Linshy, V. N. and Rana S.S. 2008. Response of benthic foraminifera Rosalina leei to different temperature and salinity, under laboratory culture experiment. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 88: 699-704. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315408001197

Nigam, R., Prasad, V., Mazumder, A. and Garg, R. 2009. Late Holocene changes in hypoxia off the west coast of India Micropalaeontological evidences. Current Science, 96 (5): 708-713.

Nomura, R. and Seto, K. 1992. Benthic foraminifera from brackish lake Nakanoumi, San-In district, southwestern Honshu, Japan (K. Ishizaki and T. Saito eds). Centenary of Japanese Micropaleontology. (pp. 227-240).

Sabyasachi, M., Choudhary, A., Naidu, T. Y. and Bandyopadhyay, S. 1996. A reconnaissance survey of recent benthic foraminifera from the mangrove Estuarine sector of Indian Sunderbans, Vidhyasagar University of Journal of Biological Science 2:40-46.

Saraswat, R., Kouthanker, M., Kurtakar, S. R., Nigam, R., Naqvi, S. W.A. and Linshy, V. N. 2015. Effect of salinity induced pH/alkalinity changes on benthic foraminifera: A laboratory culture experiment. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Science, 153: 96-107. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ecss.2014.12.005

Sen Gupta, B. K. and Machain-Castillo, M. L. 1993. Benthic foraminifera in oxygen-poor habitats. Marine Micropaleontology, 20: 183- 201. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8398(93)90032-S

Singh, D. P., Saraswat, R. and Kaithwar, A. 2018. Changes in standing stock and vertical distribution of benthic foraminifera along a depth gradient (58-2750 m) in the southeastern Arabian Sea. Marine Biodiversity, 48: 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017- 0823-z

Suokhrie, T., Saalim, S. M., Saraswat, R. and Nigam, R. 2018. Indian monsoon variability in the last 2000 years as inferred from benthic foraminifera. Quaternary International, 479: 128-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.05.037