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Cretaceous Foraminifers—Depth Habitats and their Origin

Abstract

UPPER Cretaceous foraminifers, both planktonic and benthic, seem to have been depth distributed in a similar way to modern species. This hypothesis, examined primarily in terms of Upper Cretaceous foraminifera along the eastern North Pacific margin, explains the distribution patterns observed in Cretaceous shelf and slope foraminifers, the correlation of these faunas to modern assemblages, and the agreement of the patterns with the hydrographic conditions envisioned for Cretaceous oceans1. Here I show that these depth patterns originated in the mid-Cretaceous during the earliest of two periods of Cretaceous continental fragmentation and ocean floor spreading.

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SLITER, W. Cretaceous Foraminifers—Depth Habitats and their Origin. Nature 239, 514–515 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239514a0

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