Middle Eocene Benthic foraminifers from Holes 960A and 960C, Central Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Benthic foraminifers of Eocene age from Holes 960A and 960C of the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 159 were examined. More than 70 species were isolated and identified. Very few fossiliferous samples are scattered in a sequence, which for the most part, is barren of calcareous microfossils. Based on the biostratigraphic analysis of their benthic foraminifer content, these fossiliferous samples are given a Bartonian age. Despite some important intervals without any recovery, it appears that a long episode of strong carbonate dissolution was interrupted during Bartonian times by one or more sporadic and brief events of slight corrosion. We suggest that the samples were deposited in middle-lower bathyal environments at about 2 ± 1 km water depth, close to the lower limit of an oxygen minimum zone.