Benthic foraminifera data from box core and piston core samples document oceanographic changes on the Amazon middle to outer shelf from the early Holocene to the present. The dataset, produced by SCIOPS and sourced from NASA Earthdata, identifies three distinct depositional environments based on assemblage analysis. It was last updated in October 1991.
Use Cases
- Classify depositional environments (e.g., fluid mud, relict sediment, river mouth) using foraminiferal assemblage compositions like Ammonia beccarii or Quinqueloculina bicostata.
- Analyze taphonomic features and test abnormalities (e.g., Flintina bradyana) to infer past hydrodynamic conditions and sediment transport processes.
- Correlate stratigraphic intervals with isotopic and seismic data to date erosional surfaces and periods of high sedimentation, such as the last 100 years.
- Study species opportunism and reworking by comparing assemblages at the sediment-water interface with those from deeper substrate intervals.
Strengths
- Data integrates multiple evidence types: foraminiferal assemblages with sedimentological, stratigraphic, seismic, and isotopic results.
- Identifies three contrasting depositional environments with specific characteristic species for each.
- Temporal coverage spans from the early Holocene to the present, capturing long-term oceanographic changes.
Limitations
- Dataset is temporally stale, with last update in 1991, potentially missing recent research and methodologies.
- Sample size, row count, and geographic extent within the Amazon shelf are unspecified, limiting reproducibility assessment.
- Potential for geographic bias as data is confined to tropical and subtropical Western South Atlantic Ocean (WSAOBIS) and Brazilian shelf.
Provenance
- Source
- SCIOPS, via NASA Earthdata.
- Collection Method
- Analysis of benthic foraminifera from box core and piston core samples collected from the Amazon shelf.
- Time Range
- Early Holocene to present (circa last 11,700 years to 1991).
- Freshness
- Last updated 1991-10-30; no update frequency provided.
- Geography
- Amazon River middle to outer shelf, tropical and subtropical Western South Atlantic Ocean (Brazil).