Biochronological and paleoenvironmental interest of foraminifera lived in restricted environments: application to the study of the western Mediterranean holocene

Abstract As a consequence of the Flandrian transgression, numerous littoral lakes were formed since roughly 6000 BP in the western Mediterranean coast. This kind of environment is colonized, among other groups, by specialized forms of foraminifera. Some species arose in the Upper Tertiary, some others in the Pleistocene and others are exclusively Holocene. Two kinds of environment are proposed in the colonization: one with very low salinity waters where agglutinated test species prevail and another one with brackish waters, dominated by calcareous test species. In addition, Trichohyalus aguayoi can be considered as an acmezone within the Holocene. We propose a cenozone formed by the following assemblage: Arenoparrella mexicana , Haplophragmoides manilaensis , Jadammina macrescens , Labrospira jeffreysii , Miliammina earlandi , Trochammina inflata , Metarotaliella simplex , Miliolinella eburnea and Physalidia ? sp.