Date of Award
12-2006
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Geology
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Kulp, Mark
Second Advisor
Totten, Matthew
Third Advisor
Brunner, Charlotte
Abstract
Incorporating improved preparation techniques, modern taxonomy, and quantitative analysis of environmental variables known to influence marsh foraminifers in other coastal regions refined marsh foraminiferal biofacies of the Mississippi delta region. Elevation, pore water salinity, total carbon, and mean grain size were compared with foraminiferal distributions in a transgressive marsh system of the lower Lafourche headland of the south-central delta plain. Cluster analysis aided definition of two biofacies, one from the marsh interior and one from the marsh edge. The marsh edge biofacies was further subdivided into levee crest and bayou margin biofacies. Correlation analysis suggested that seven of the 21 most common foraminifers correlated significantly with physical variables. Juvenile Trochammina inflata correlated with salinity; Ammotium crassus and Ammonia parkinsoniana correlated with elevation; Polysaccammina ipohalina and Miliammina fusca correlated with grain size; and Miliammina fusca correlated with organic carbon. The trends are consistent with relationships observed in many other coastal regions.
Recommended Citation
Dreher, Chandra, "Modern Foraminiferal Bio-facies within a Transgressive Saline Influenced Deltaic Headland, South-Central Louisiana" (2006). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 487.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/487
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.