Upper Cretaceous benthic foraminifers and paleoenvironments, southern Kerguelen Plateau, Indian Ocean

Abstract

Over 200 species of benthic foraminifers are recorded from three Ocean Drilling Program sites on the Southern Kerguelen Plateau drilled during Leg 120. They represent environments of deposition from neritic to bathyal during the Cenomanian to Maestrichtian. Analysis of planktonic percentage, dominance/diversity, and comparison of faunal composition and structure shows that at all sites there is strong evidence of deepening water with time. Indexes other than foraminiferal suggest that the Kerguelen Plateau was vegetated through much of the Upper Cretaceous and that there may always have been islands or larger expanses of the plateau surface exposed. -from Author