Preparación de los esmaltes y equipos empleados

No. of samples

examined

Environment

Sediment

(not personal

observation)

section. Eastern Falcon

Early Miocene (Burdigalian) - Late Miocene (Tortonian)

57 outcrop samples Mid - low upper slope Laminated clay

TABLE 4:

Additional Tertiary localities examined but not included further:

Location

Nature of material

Borneo 12 outcrop samples - mid slope - Miocene

Gulf of Sirte, Libya Well C l -41, Arabian Gulf Oil Company - 38 composite ditch cuttings - neritic - Miocene Cipero Formation, Trinidad 24 outcrop samples - upper slope - Miocene

Northern Falcon, Venezuela 33 outcrop samples - mid / lower slope - Paleogene

4.2. TAXONOMY

An Oceanographers Dream

I built myself a stately treasure house Beside the roiiing ocean's swell, With cunning apparatus to disciose The gems beiow that dwell,’

Those frail living gems "of purest ray serene" Oft frail, fantastic, strange and rare.

Whose iives sheer mysteries have ever been. But need not be - with care.

Walter Garstang, 1951 - Larval Forms

Five hundred and seventy-five benthic foraminiferal taxa are described; two hundred and thirty- four agglutinating species and three hundred and forty-one calcareous species. Of these, four hundred and sixty taxa are illustrated; one hundred and ninty agglutinating taxa, and two hundred and seventy calcareous taxa.

4.3. INTRODUCTION

The Catalogue of Foraminifera (Ellis and Messina 1940, et. seq.) has been used for the basis of species identification. Loeblich and Tappan’s (198?) comprehensive work revising suprageneric and generic level classification is followed herein. Loeblich and Tappan (1964) has also been consulted, and the caution referred to by Haynes (1990; 1992) adhered to. Modifications where necessary are described. Having established the taxonomic position of the taxa, a literature search was then expanded to other Cenozoic locations, confirming their cosmopolitan nature in many cases. The following Miocene collections held in the Natural History Museum, London, were examined and compared: Adams (Cyprus); Bagg (Jamaica); Bhahia (Isle of Wight); Birley (Palestine); Brady (Costa Rica, Vienna Basin); BrOnnimann (Trinidad); Burrow and Holland (Vienna); J. Doreen (Dominican Republic); Earland (Trinidad); Gubler (Morocco); Hanson and Rôgl (Austria); Henson (Florida); Heron-Alien and Earland (Borneo, Cuba, Malta, Trinidad, Australia); T. R. Jones (Cyprus); Macfadyen (Cyprus); Palmer (Cuba); Parker (France, Hungary, Jamaica, Vienna Basin); M. S. Srinivasan (Car Nicobar); E. O. Teale (Victoria, Australia); Whittaker (Ecuador, Panama). Natural History Museum numbers are given unless the collection in unumbered, this is shown by (NHM)'. In addition comparisons have been made to proprietary industrial West African material, but not recorded here.

Each species is listed alphabetically within its generic group. Determination of species is based upon the author’s experience of Neogene foraminiferas from Venezuela, W est African, Borneo, Libya, and Romania. This represents the author’s appreciation of a species concept at the time of writing. In general, where preservation is poor, species are ’lumped’ rather than ’split’. The temptation to needlessly create new taxa upon the basis of few specimens of poor preservation has been resisted, the author preferring to affiniate a specimen to a well defined group.

Plates are arranged taxonomically within a geographical area (Venezuela, Africa, Romania) for publication purposes. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) micrographs are used to illustrate most species. In some cases, light microscope photographs and camera lucida line drawings are used in preference or addition to demonstrate features not evident with the SEM. Preservation in some cases precluded the production of useful illustrations.

The following abbreviations have been used:

cf. for taxa similar to a known species but different in some detail, aff. for taxa showing a close affinity to a well defined taxonomic group, sp. 1, 2, . . for species which do not correspond to published descriptions, spp. for taxa not determinable at the specific level.

‘Occurrence’ denotes incidence in the samples examined by the author for this thesis. Remarks’, in addition to general comments about a taxon, records literature references where no figure is given.

4.4. SYSTEMATICS

Phylum PROTOZOA

Class FORAMINIFERA J. J. Lee, 1990

Order ALLOGROMIDA Loeblich & Tappan, 1961 Superfamily ASTROHIZACEA Brady, 1881 Family BATHYSiPHONIDAE Avnimelech, 1952 Genus BATHYSIPHON Bars, 1872

Bathysiphon taurinense Sacco

P la te 3 9 ,figure 1; P la te 6 7 ,figures 1 - 2

Bathysiphon taurinense SACCO 1893, pi. 2, fig. 2 {fide Ellis & Messina 1940, e t seq.)

Bathysiphon taurinense Sacco. -SO U YA 1965, pi. 1, fig. 1. --POPESCU 1975, pi. 1, fig. 2. - LUCZKOWSKA 1990, pi. 2, figs. 6 - 8. -CICH A , e t al. 1998, pl. 1, figs. 1 - 2

Description; Robust tubular test of light coloured sandy material with characteristic black surface. Compressed.

Occurrence: Offshore Cabinda found in CABGOC 115-1X intermittently between 6,720’ and 9,960'. Observed in the Chechis Marls in Romania.

Remarks: Originally described from the Miocene of Italy. Specimens compare well with topotype material of the M. S. Srinivasan collection (P47543).

Bathysiphon sp.

Description: Large flattened fragments. Fine grained test, smooth.

Occurrence: Offshore Cabinda found in CABGOC 115-1X between 2,630" and 3,890’, rare. Observed in the Chechis Marls in Romania.

Remarks: Small fragments of re-silicified individuals.

Genus NOTHIA Pflaumann, 1964

Nothia excelsa (Grzybowski)

Plate 9, figure 1

Dendrophrya excelsa GRZYBOWSK11898, pi. 1, figs. 2 - 4 {fide Kaminski & Geroch 1993)

Dendrophrya ex. gr. excelsa Grzybowski. -KAMINSKI, et. al. 1989a, pi. 1, figs. 1 0 -1 1

Nothia excelsa (Grzybowski). -KAMINSKI & GEROCH 1993, pi. 1, figs. 2 - 3,15, (not 4 - 6). -GEROCH & KAMINSKI 1992, pi. 1, figs. 1 - 4 , pi. 2, figs, 1 -1 1

Rhabdammina excelsa (Grzybowski). -CHARNOCK & JONES 1990, pi. 1, fig. 27 (not fig. 26)

Description: Tubular test, moderately thickened test wall. Wall fine to moderately coarse. Compressed. Occasionally bifurcates.

Occurrence: Single occurrence in sample 2701 of the G. fohsi Zone, Venezuela.

Remarks: Originally described from Paleogene of the Carpathian region. Small fragment recovered.

Nothia sp. 1 Plate 39, figure 2

Description: Coarse grained fragments, inflated, parallel sides, some evidence of constrictions. Occurrence: Gffstiore Cabinda found in CABGOC 128-3 between 4,770' and 5,180’, rare. Remarks: Poorly preserved fragments.

Nothia sp. 2 Plate 39, figure 3

Description: Irregular flattened test, sub-parallel sides. Coarse grained light coloured material, occasionally incorporating planktonic foraminifera.

Occurrence: Offshore Cabinda found in CABGOC 128-3 between 7,820" and 9,080', rare. Remarks: Poorly preserved fragments.

Nothia sp. 3 Plate 39, figure 4

Description: Slender elongate test, parallel sides. Fine grained, twists gently about a single axis.

Occurrence: Offshore Cabinda found in sample 6,860’ of CABGOC 128-3. Remarks: Poorly preserved fragments.

Family RHABDAMMINIDAE Brady, 1884 Subfamily RHABDAMMININAE Brady, 1884 Genus RHABDAMMINA Sars, 1869

Rhabdam m ina robusta (Grzybowski)

Piate 39, figure 5

Dendrophrya robusta GRZYBOWSK11998, pi. 10, fig. 7 {hde Kaminski, et. al. 1993)

Rhabdammina robusta (Grzybowski). -KAMINSKI & GEROCH 1993, pi. 1, figs. 7 ,1 6

Nothia robusta. -OSTERMAN & SPIEGLER 1996, pi. 2, figs. 8 - 9

Description: Flattened tube, parallel sides, thick fine grained test wall.

Occurrence: Offshore Cabinda found in CABGOC 128-3 between 2,630’ and 6,080’, rare. Remarks: Poorly preserved fragments. Sponge spicules referred to by Kaminski and Geroch (1993) are unobserved in these specimens.

Rhabdam m ina sp. 1

Piate 39, figure 6

Description: Bulbous inflated test, medium grain size, sub-parallel sides, occasional constrictions, thin wall.

Occurrence: Offshore Cabinda found in CABGOC 128-3 between 5,240’ and 5,960’, rare, and in CABGOC 115-1X between 6,120’ and 10,202’, common.

Remarks: Poorly preserved fragments.

Rhabdammina

sp. 2

Plate 39, figure 7

Description:

Occurrence:

Remarks:

Rhabdammina

sp. 3

Plate 39, figure 8

Description:

Occurrence:

Remarks:

Genus RHIZAMMINA Brady, 1879 Rhizammina

sp. 1