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Environmental implications of test-to-substrate attachment among some modern sublittoral foraminifera

January 1, 1982

Topographic highs on the outer continental shelf of New Jersey are sites for the concentration of three species of attached calcareous benthic foraminifera. Elphidium subarcticum Cushman, normally considered a vagrant species, cements itself by an organic film to one or more quartz grains. Webbinella concave (Williamson) attaches to quartz grains by secreting a flange-like calcite skirt at one side of its globuline test. Vasiglobulina reticulate n. sp. has evolved the most elaborate system of attachment: numerous closely spaced spines connect the globuline test to a thin calcite lamina, which is in turn cemented to quartz grains.

 

The attachment mode of these species suggests that the added weight of the quartz grains may reduce displacement during the periodic resuspension of the shelf sediments by longshore and tidal current motion. The distribution of living populations of these species corroborates sedimentological inferences that little or no modern deposition takes place on the sampled topographic highs.

Publication Year 1982
Title Environmental implications of test-to-substrate attachment among some modern sublittoral foraminifera
DOI 10.1130/0016-7606(1982)93<252:EIOTAA>2.0.CO;2
Authors C. Wylie Poag
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Geological Society of America Bulletin
Index ID 70011695
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Coastal and Marine Geology Program