Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Foraminifera from beach sands along Saurashtra coast, north-west India.

Volume 44 Issue 1&2

K. Kameswara Rao and M. Srinath

Abstract

One hundred seven foraminifera1 species have been identified and studied quantitatively in regard to their relative abundance in sand samples from 13 stations along the Saurashtra coast. This study has shown that Ammonia beccarii (Linn6) variant is the dominant and most widely distributed species of the coast. Ammonia tepida, Asterorotalia dentata, Hanzawaia asterizans and Pararotalia minuta are the other abundant species of the fauna. The fauna is dominated by species of Rotaliina followed by Miliolina, Textulariina, Globigerinina, Lagenina and Robertinina. Furthermore, it shows affinity with that of Indo-Pacific faunal province. Also, the relationship between the abundance of Foraminifera and the median grain size of the sand is discussed.

Cluster analysis has been done for stations and species to enumerate or delineate thanatotopes and thanatofacies in the study area.

Date : 30-12-2002