TY - JOUR
T1 - Bathymetric zonation of modern shelf benthic foraminifera in the Levantine Basin, eastern Mediterranean Sea
AU - Avnaim-Katav, Simona
AU - Hyams-Kaphzan, Orit
AU - Milker, Yvonne
AU - Almogi-Labin, Ahuva
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the ship crew of the R/V Shikmona, D. Schaffer (EcoOcean), the ship crew of the R/V Mediterranean Explorer, A. Yurman (Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies diving workshop) and M. Kitin (Geological Survey of Israel) for their technical assistance in the sample collection and processing. We gratefully acknowledge funding by grants no. 98-17-017 (Dorit Sivan and Ahuva Almogi-Labin), no. 20-17-30 (Chaim Benjamini) and no. 25-17-048 (Amir Sandler, Ahuva Almogi-Labin and Dorit Sivan) of the Earth Sciences Board, Ministry of National Infrastructures and a Sir Maurice Hatter Research Grant of the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies (RIMS) , and the University of Haifa Research Authority . We deeply thank G. Schmiedl for his idea to carry out the multivariate statistical analyses employed in the current study. The anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive suggestions resulting in a significantly improved manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - Siliciclastic carbonate-poor sediments are common in southern and central parts of the inner Israeli shelf, part of the Nile littoral cell and in deeper water along the entire coast, while carbonate rich sediments occur in northern Israel and in submerged rocky environments. The distribution of benthic foraminifera, common components of these environments, was studied in surface sediment samples in order to identify their bathymetric zonation using multivariate statistical analyses. The dead foraminiferal assemblages exhibit a clear bathymetric zonation directly related to substrate type. A distinct faunal change has been found at approximately 40. m water depth coinciding with the shift from the shallow-water sand belt, distributed parallel to the Israeli coast up to Haifa Bay, to a silty-clayey belt relatively rich with organic matter extending westward along the entire SE Mediterranean shelf. Ammonia parkinsoniana, Ammonia sp. 1, Buccella granulata, Nubeculina divaricata and Adelosina sp. 1 predominating the shallow-water depths are positively related to sand content and negatively related to water depth. Other species, such as Asterigerinata mamilla, Hanzawaia rhodiensis, Reussella spinulosa, Triloculina marioni and Valvulineria bradyana, occurring between 40 and 100. m, exhibit a positive relationship with total organic carbon content and water depth. Beyond the Nile littoral cell and partly in its distal part Amphistegina lessonii, Peneroplis pertusus, Pseudoschlumbergerina ovata, Pseudoschlumbergerina sp. 1 and Quinqueloculina ungeriana dominate the rocky and coarse sand substrate, exhibiting a more positive relationship with higher carbonate content values. The distinct bathymetric zonation established in this study may prove to be useful in fossil records for accurate paleo-bathymetry reconstruction of Quaternary records in this dynamic system prone to frequent sea level fluctuations.
AB - Siliciclastic carbonate-poor sediments are common in southern and central parts of the inner Israeli shelf, part of the Nile littoral cell and in deeper water along the entire coast, while carbonate rich sediments occur in northern Israel and in submerged rocky environments. The distribution of benthic foraminifera, common components of these environments, was studied in surface sediment samples in order to identify their bathymetric zonation using multivariate statistical analyses. The dead foraminiferal assemblages exhibit a clear bathymetric zonation directly related to substrate type. A distinct faunal change has been found at approximately 40. m water depth coinciding with the shift from the shallow-water sand belt, distributed parallel to the Israeli coast up to Haifa Bay, to a silty-clayey belt relatively rich with organic matter extending westward along the entire SE Mediterranean shelf. Ammonia parkinsoniana, Ammonia sp. 1, Buccella granulata, Nubeculina divaricata and Adelosina sp. 1 predominating the shallow-water depths are positively related to sand content and negatively related to water depth. Other species, such as Asterigerinata mamilla, Hanzawaia rhodiensis, Reussella spinulosa, Triloculina marioni and Valvulineria bradyana, occurring between 40 and 100. m, exhibit a positive relationship with total organic carbon content and water depth. Beyond the Nile littoral cell and partly in its distal part Amphistegina lessonii, Peneroplis pertusus, Pseudoschlumbergerina ovata, Pseudoschlumbergerina sp. 1 and Quinqueloculina ungeriana dominate the rocky and coarse sand substrate, exhibiting a more positive relationship with higher carbonate content values. The distinct bathymetric zonation established in this study may prove to be useful in fossil records for accurate paleo-bathymetry reconstruction of Quaternary records in this dynamic system prone to frequent sea level fluctuations.
KW - Bathymetric Zonation
KW - Benthic Foraminifera
KW - Inner Shelf
KW - Redundancy Analysis
KW - Southeastern Mediterranean
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84939957017&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.seares.2015.02.006
DO - 10.1016/j.seares.2015.02.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84939957017
VL - 99
SP - 97
EP - 106
JO - Journal of Sea Research
JF - Journal of Sea Research
SN - 1385-1101
ER -