CONTEMPORARY SALT-MARSH FORAMINIFERAL DISTRIBUTION FROM THE ADRIATIC COAST OF CROATIA AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR SEA-LEVEL STUDIES

Shaw, Timothy A, Kirby, Jason R, Holgate, Simon, Tutman, Pero and Plater, Andrew J ORCID: 0000-0001-7043-227X (2016) CONTEMPORARY SALT-MARSH FORAMINIFERAL DISTRIBUTION FROM THE ADRIATIC COAST OF CROATIA AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR SEA-LEVEL STUDIES. JOURNAL OF FORAMINIFERAL RESEARCH, 46 (3). pp. 314-332.

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Abstract

Salt-marsh foraminifera serve as proxy sea-level indicators due to a quantifiable relationship with elevation in the contemporary environment. In this paper, we document the distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera from two microtidal sites, Jadrtovac and Blace, along the Adriatic coast of Croatia and assess their suitability as proxies for elevation in transfer-function-based reconstructions of sea level, which is not yet established for the Mediterranean region. The assemblages are dominated by typical salt-marsh agglutinated taxa, Jadammina macrescens and Trochammina inflata, and the calcareous taxa Ammonia spp. and Quinqueloculina spp. Quantitative analyses revealed that the assemblages are divided into three faunal zones, which are elevation dependent, and that the assemblage dominated by J. macrescens and T. inflata extends to higher elevations in the intertidal frame. The training set was used to develop a tidal-level transfer function using linear regression due to the short environmental gradients observed. The model predicts sea level with a precision of ± 0.08 m. This study highlights the strong potential of salt-marsh foraminifera in reconstructing RSL trends for the Mediterranean region, where studies of past sea-level have previously been restricted to other indicators.Grant: This research was conducted as part of Shaw's Ph.D thesis at the Geography Department, University of Liverpool in collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and funded by a NERC studentship award. Technical staff at the University of Liverpool are thanked for their assistance in the laboratory, notably, Irene Cooper, Alan Henderson and Mike O'Connor. We also thank Hayley Mills for her help with the statistical analyses. The authors are grateful to the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, for their assistance in the field and with logistics. We are also grateful to Srdjan Cupic, Hydrographie Institute of the Republic of Croatia, for supplying tidal levels. Robin Edwards and Fabienne Marret-Davis are thanked for their useful input during discussions. The authors thank Stephen Culver for his taxonomic expertise and gratefully acknowledge Benjamin Horton for his support. Two anonymous reviewers are also thanked for their useful input in improving the manuscript. We also thank Pamela Hallock Muller for overseeing the editorial process.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	27 Jun 2016 14:04
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2023 21:42
DOI:	10.2113/gsjfr.46.3.314
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3001841