Planktonic Foraminifera from Deep-Sea Cores Off Eniwetok Atoll
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Planktonic Foraminifera From Deep-Sea Cores off Eniwetok Atoll By RUTH TODD BIKINI AND NEARBY ATOLLS, MARSHALL ISLANDS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 260-CC Age interpretations of samples of Globigerina ooze from an ad;"oining guyot southwest of Eniwetok Atoll UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1964 1~· UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas :s: Nolan, Director CONTENTS Page Page Abstract __________________________________________ _ 1067 The problem of subspecies-Continued Introduction ______________________________________ _ 1067 Variability in tht;l Globigerinoides elongatus-ruber- Geographic background _____________________________ _ 1067 conglobatus complex __________________________ _ 1074 Core descriptions __________________________________ _ 1068 Variability in the Sphaeroidinella complex _________ _ 1074 Benthonic population ______________________________ ·_ 1068 Age of Foraminifera species _________________________ _ 1075 Analysis of planktonic species ________________________· 1070 Age of core samples ______ ------ ____________________ _ 1076 Problems related to use of planktonics for age determina- Correia tion _______________________________________ _ 1076 tion ____________________________________________ _ 1071 Systematic descriptions _____________________________ _ 1077 The problem of subspecies- _________________________ _ 1071 Family Globigerinidae __________________________ _ 1078 Variability in Globigerinella aequilateralis __________ _ 1072 Family Globorotaliidae _________________________ _ 1091 Variability in Pulleniatina obliquiloculata __ ________ _ 1073 References cited ___________________________________ _ 1097 Index ____________________________________________ _ Variability in Globigerinoides sacculifer ____________ _ 1073 1099 Variability in the Globorotalia menardii-tumida com- plex ________________________________________ _ 1073 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates 289-295 follow index] PLATES 289-291. Globigerinidae from deep-sea cores off Eniwetok Atoll. 292. Species of Globigerina and Globorotalia from deep-sea cores off Eniwetok Atoll. 293-295. Species of Globorotalia from deep-sea cores off Eniwetok Atoll. Page FIGURE 319. Location of cores on the guyot southwest of Eniwetok AtolL____________________________________________ 1068 320. Diagrammatic representation of core lengths, position of samples, and probable age of sediments penetrated___ 1069 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Key to samples used in present report------------------------------------------------------------------- 1068 2. Proportion (estimated) of benthonic species to total number of species__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1069 3. Distribution and abundance of planktonic Foraminifera in individual core samples-----------:----------------- 1070 m BIKINI AND NEARBY ATOLLS, MARSHALL ISLANDS PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA FROM DEEP-SEA CORES OFF ENIWETOK ATOLL By RUTH TODD ABSTRACT Because benthonic species have proved to have longer Study of nine samples from a group of five cores taken on a ranges than most planktonic species and because few guyot adjoining the southwest part of Eniwetok Atoll sheds benthonic species are reported to have ranges limited some light on tbe slowly evolving planktonic population o.f by age, not ecology, in the Late Tertiary, I have re Foraminifera that inhabited the oceanic water surrounding the Marshall Islands during the time between late Miocene and the stricted to the planktonic population my search for present. 'l'he five cores sampled penetrate through a thin dis additional species that might have limited ranges and continuous and unindurated veneer of Quaternary organic debris thus be available to serve as age indicators. currently being moved about over the shelf. This transi'tory The present study has yielded the following results : cover, a Globige1·ina sand from which three samples were (a) Description of the· present-day planktonic popula studied, overlies a slightly indurated Globigerina-coccolith ooze from which six more samples were studied as to their forami tion now being or recently deposited on a deep shelf niferal composition. adjacent to Eniwetok atoll; (b) description of the Plio On the basis of spec~es and subspecies recognized, as well as cene and upper Miocene planktonic population depos ev.olutionary changes within species, tentative ages of early ited over the same are~; (c) description of some of the Pliocene and late Miocene.were assigned respectively to two and subtle changes in those species that are found through four of the samples of Globigerina-coccolith ooze. Early Plio cene is characteriz~d by presence of Globigerinoides sacculifer out the cores as they evolve :from the Miocene and Plio fistttlosa and absence of Globorotalia truncatulinoides. Late cene to the Pleistocene and Recent parts of the cores ; Miocene is characterized by presence of Globoquadrina altispira. (d) recognition of species restricted to either of these Approximate correlation of the Globigerina-coccolith ooze with major divisions of the cores; and (e) worldwide cor au upper Miocene or lower Pliocene ooze from Sylvania Guyot off Bildni Atoll is possible by means of Globoq1tadrina altispira, relation of the sediments penetrated by the cores. Sphaeroidinella disj1tncta, Globorotalia menardii m1tlticamerata, Acknowledgments.-To M. N. Bramlette I owe my G. t1tmida fteamosa, and Globige1·inoides sacculifer jlstulosa. thanks for presenting me with this problem together Correlation of the late Miocene parts of th.e cores with the with some clues for its solution. I am indebted for as West Indian section is possible by means of Globorotalia tohsi robw~ta, a zone marker in Trinidad, with the supporting evidence sistance of various kinds received from many colleagues, of Globorotalia menardii praemenardii and Globoquadrinn, chiefly H. M. Bolli, Richard Cifelli, E. L. Hamilton, alt-ispira. H. S. Ladd, Doris Low, and F. L. Parker. Helpful A total of 42 forms, classified in 32 species, were recognized advice from and discussions with them are gratefully from ·the composite o·~ all the samples. Quantitatively the Recent and fossil assemblages are virtually the same. Their acknowledged. The fossil illustrations are the work of differences lie in (a) presence or absence of a very S!IIlall propor Elinor Stromberg. tion of the species, that .is, those judged useful for age deter mination; (b) slight differences between more primitive or more GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND advanced forms of a single species; and (c) changes in relative abundance of certain species or certain forms of a species. Eleven deep-sea cores were obtained from the gently The benthonic Foraminifera population, although constituting sloping surface of the guyot that adjoins Eniwetok a negligible quantitative factor, shows a rough correlation be Atoll on the south and southwest. Five of these cores tween nearness to reef and proportion of total number of species. penetrated through the thin veneer of Quaternary Number of benthonic species (as proportion of the total as semblage) increases with nearness to reef, which provides an debris to the underlying sediment of Pliocene and late additional tool for paleoecologic interpretation of fossil Globiger Miocene age. Selected samples from these five cores ina ooze. form the basis for the present study. INTRODUCTION The cores were taken from depths between slightly The present study was undertaken as a search for more than 800 fathoms and somewhat deeper than species that might serve as age indicators in the upper 1,000 fathoms. The five cores that were studied range most part of the Tertiary and the Quaternary. from 13 to 66 em in length. The position of the cores 1067 1068 BIKINI AND NEARBY ATOLLS, MARSHALL ISLANDS studied approximates a circle about 4 miles In and the thickness of the veneer of shifting Recent and diameter (fig. 319). Pleistocene sand and debris that overlies the fossil (pre 162'10' sumably Pliocene and Miocene) pelagic sediment. Table 1 provides a key· to the sample numbers used in ENIWETOK the present report. CONTOUR 1NTERV.-,L 100 AND 500 FATHOMS CORE DESCRIPTIONS 1 Core Length Description (in em) 4 _____________ _ 61 Slightly indurated Globigerina-cocco lith ooze, with brown crust in top 3 em and decreasing brown mottling down to 10 em. 18 ____________ _ 61 . Globigerina sand with some reef debris of medium to coarse sand size down to 5 em overlying slightly indurated Globigerina-coccolith ooze with faint brown mottling near 5 em. 20 ____________ _ 13 Slightly indurated Globigerina-cocco FIGUR!Il 319.-Locatton of cores on the guyot southwest of Eniwetok lith ooze (CaC0 =95 percent at 12 Atoll, modified from Bramlette and others ( 1959). 3 em) with brown crust at top and brown mottling decreasing down All 11 cores were studied by Bramlette and others ward. ( 1959, p. 1549-1551), who described the striking differ 23 ____________ _ 66 Globigerina sand with some reef de ence between the sedi_n1ents interpreted as Quaternary bris of coarse sand size down to 12 (Recent or Pleistocene) and those of the late Tertiary em overlying slightly indurated Glo and who specified, on a lithologic basis, the boundary bigerina-coccolith ooze (CaCOa=96 percent at 30 em) with decreasing between these two ages. The Quaternary sediments are brown mottling down ward from 12 distinguished from those of late Tertiary age by the to 25 em. · following criteria : inclusion of coarse reef debris,