The objective for this study was to provide the insight into the link between benthic foraminiferal assemblages and the surrounding environment. Stained sediment samples were collected from the continental shelf and slope off the southwest Taiwan, including the Kao-ping Submarine Canyon. In addition to faunal census, total organic carbon (TOC), carbonate, and coarse fraction of the sediments were also measured. Nevertheless, the downcore record of the excess 210Pb from selected sites offers the constraint for stratigraphy time frame for discussion.
The benthic foraminiferal assemblages were analyzed by statistics. Clusters analysis shows that all species present in this study could be divided into two groupings. One is those distributed in outer shelf and the other is those found in the inner shelf of the southwest Taiwan. Different from previous studies, the spatial distribution of stained benthic foraminifera seems not to be related with TOC contents in the sediment and water depth. Both the diversity index and Eqitability show that sites inside of the canyon have lower values. The higher Living/Total ratios and lower dead tests at the head of Kao-ping Submarine Canyon than adjacent area might be the effect of migration. Furthermore, the species within the canyon are similar to the southern and northern continental shelf. These findings indicate that the spatial distribution of benthic forams within canyon might be the effect of transport, which could result from the complex interaction between tides and currents.
Augmented with the profiles of excess 210Pb, the temporal variation of benthic foraminifera was revealed. Generally there is a progressive decrease in the abundance of Ammonia sp.. It is possible that the diminishing trend was caused by the increase of anthropogenic activity for the last 30 years.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0824104-165522 |
| Date | 24 August 2004 |
| Creators | Chiang, Ai-Ping |
| Contributors | none, Yu-Chia Chung, Hui-Ling Lin |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0824104-165522 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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