The later holocene foraminifera of liverpool bay (bae lerpwl), british isles: morphospecies and community level patterns

Two cores were studied from Liverpool Bay (& SIM;40 m wa-ter depth). The lowest 80 cm of ISLF13 (290 cm long) com-prised clay, gypsum and pyritised foraminifera (Surface Layer 2 Member, gypsiferous lithofacies GLF) from a tidal flat dom-inated by Cribroelphidium excavatum. Perturbation Detec-tion Analysis (PDA) found two ISLF13 GLF abundance bio-zones (ABs) with assemblages in stasis. ISLF16 (80 cm long) and between 30-202 cm in ISLF13 were open marine, sandy with gastropods and bivalves (Surface Layer 1 Member, shelly sand lithofacies SSLF). Assemblages in the SSLF sections differed, despite their proximity. That in ISLF13 comprised dominant C. excavatum with lesser Ammonia batava, Aster-igerinata mamilla, Cibicides refulgens and Bulimina elongata. PDA identified two ISLF13 SSLF ABs, both in growth stages. The ISLF16 assemblage was co-dominated by C. excavatum, A. mamilla and A. batava from a single AB in stasis. This dif-ference might reflect sorting. Asterigerinata murraynhaynesi n. sp. is described.