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Response of shallow-sea benthic foraminifera to environmental changes off the coast of Goa, eastern Arabian Sea, during the last ∼6100 cal yr BP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2019

Ponnusamy Saravanan*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Earth System Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650500, China Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur721302, India
Anil K. Gupta
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur721302, India
Hongbo Zheng
Affiliation:
Research Center for Earth System Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650500, China
Mruganka K. Panigrahi
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur721302, India
Sameer K. Tiwari
Affiliation:
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun248001, India
Santosh K. Rai
Affiliation:
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun248001, India
Muthusamy Prakasam
Affiliation:
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun248001, India
*
Author for correspondence: Ponnusamy Saravanan, Email: [email protected]

Abstract

We have analysed a 6100-year record of benthic and planktonic foraminifera from inner neritic sediments from Core SK291/GC13, off the Goa coast, eastern Arabian Sea, to understand the response of benthic foraminifera to shallow-marine processes. The benthic foraminiferal assemblage is dominated by Nonion cf. asterizans, Ammonia beccarii, A. gaimardii and Virgulinella fragilis, which have been selected on the basis of a population of 10% or more in any three samples analysed. The planktonic foraminiferal population is sporadic and rare, with Globigerinoides ruber as the predominant species showing a variable trend. The foraminiferal proxies combined with total organic carbon (wt%) and δ13C and δ18O values of Ammonia gaimardii suggest distinct variations, indicating changes in productivity and salinity in the shallow eastern Arabian Sea. The coastal waters off Goa were relatively warmer and less saline between 6100 and 4600, or perhaps to 4200, calibrated years before the present (cal yr BP), corresponding to a stronger monsoon in South and East Asia. The shallow sea was cooler from ~4200 to 2600 cal yr BP in the study area, coinciding with a lower sea surface temperature in the northeastern Arabian Sea and an arid phase in the Indian subcontinent. From 2900 to 2600 cal yr BP the study core exhibits the impacts of short-term cold events, which have earlier been observed in the northeastern Arabian Sea, off Pakistan. During the Little Ice Age, the shallow sea off Goa was less productive.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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