Benthic Foraminifera as Tools of Paleoceanography: Three Case Studies From the Late Cretaceous of the North Pacific Ocean and Western Interior Seaway, and the Miocene-Pleistocene of the Ross Sea, Antarctica ...

• Main Author: Dameron, Serena N
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Massachusetts Amherst 2023
• Subjects: Ross Sea; Pacific; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7275/35085357; https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2804

This dissertation is a widespread compilation of research covering vastly different times and locations. Despite these differences, the use of foraminifera helps to unravel their geologic history, revealing the paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatic, and paleoceanographic conditions of each location. What unites each study is how water mass, food supply and oxygen concentration play a critical role on the microfossil assemblage. This dissertation is broken up into three unique chapters. Chapter 1 reexamines some old ideas of how benthic foraminifera can be used as water mass indicators. A 13-myr record from Shatsky Rise in the paleo-central Pacific Ocean contains several instances water mass changes driven by tectonism, gateway changes and possible glaciation towards the end of the Late Cretaceous (78 –66 Ma). Each of these water mass shifts correlates with distinct foraminiferal changes. Chapter 2 expands on research in the Western Interior Seaway (WIS) during the Late Cretaceous. An ocean anoxic event (OAE) is ...