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Distribution of gravel-sized empty tests of large benthic foraminifers as practical depositional indicators in tropical reef and shelf carbonate environments

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Abstract

To explore the utility of gravel-sized tests of large benthic foraminifers (LBFs) as practical paleoenvironmental indicators of tropical reef and shelf carbonate environments, depth and spatial distributions of gravel-sized empty tests of LBFs were examined using 39 surface sediment samples collected from depths shallower than 200 m off the west coast of Miyako Island (Ryukyu Islands, northwest Pacific). Distributions of the LBF tests were mainly related to water depth, topography, and substrate type. Q-mode cluster analysis based on the binary (presence/absence) data of LBF associations (4–2-mm size fraction) clearly delineates four depositional environments: bay, back reef to fore reef, flat shelf, and shelf slope. Application of this modern dataset to fossil LBF data from larger foraminiferal limestones of the Pleistocene Ryukyu Group indicate that a test section was deposited in an outer flat shelf at depths between 54 and 99 m. Comparisons of these results with previous reports suggest that our foraminiferal analysis using gravel-sized tests is methodologically easier than conventional analyses including smaller sized tests to distinguish similar levels of depositional environments. However, taxonomic and environmental similarities make the applicability of this dataset to fossil LBF data from Quaternary tropical carbonate environments in the northwest Pacific.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Y. Tsuji (TRC, JNOC) and Dr. Y. Iryu (Nagoya University) for providing us with the opportunity to examine the surface sediment samples used for this study. We are also grateful to K. Aruga, H. Shimoji and E. Iwahashi (the University of the Ryukyus) for their assistance during this study. This study was funded in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 14740301). Comments from Dr. Guillem Mateu-Vicens and Dr. Stephan J. Jorry greatly improved the early version of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru 1, Nishihara, Okinawa, 903-0213, Japan

    Kazuhiko Fujita & Shinpei Kato

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  1. Kazuhiko Fujita
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  2. Shinpei Kato
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Correspondence to Kazuhiko Fujita.

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Fujita, K., Kato, S. Distribution of gravel-sized empty tests of large benthic foraminifers as practical depositional indicators in tropical reef and shelf carbonate environments. Facies 57, 525–541 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-010-0254-9

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