Foraminiferal Ecology and Paleoecology

Perhaps no fossil group is used as much as foraminifera for paleoecologic inference, both in academia and industry. Since the late 1960s, new concepts and much additional data have appeared that make it difficult for the casual worker not immediately concerned with foraminiferal ecology and paleoecology to stay abreast of the latest developments. In these notes, the authors summarize much of that information, or provide reference to more detailed sources. They also attempt to point out problems and other methods of dealing with them. Most paleoecologic work with foraminifera in the past has relied on direct comparison of fossil assemblages with the most similar modern assemblages, and inferring then that the environments were similar also. The method is used widely in scientific studies and in industrial applications. The result is based on the single hypothesis that the fossils are environmentally analogous to their modern counterparts. These notes present a number of alternative working hypotheses, and in some cases, examine the data to attempt of disprove them.
Quantitative Biofacies Analysis
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Published:January 01, 1979