322 Early Pliocene benthic foraminifers from the Salina Basin, southeastern Mexico

Early Pliocene benthic foraminifers from the Salina Basin, southeastern Mexico - BAP #322 This study comprises the taxonomic, biostratigraphic, and paleoecologic analyses of early Pliocene foraminifers in the western Salina Basin of southeastern Mexico. Three “biozones”, the Encanto, the upper Concepcion, and the lower Concepcion (all previously designated as formations), lying within a 600 sq km area centered around Acayucan, Veracruz, are the focus of this study. Ranges of key planktic foraminifers and calcareous nannoplankton indicate that these “biozones” belong to Neogene Zones 19 and 20 of Blow (1969). Collections of benthic foraminifers from the Encanto and Concepcion “biozones” contain 212 taxa assigned to 108 genera. The following species are new: Chrysalogonium spinastelliferum, Discorbis? olutensis, Ehrenbergina olmeca, and Oolina sayulensis. Ninety-one percent of the species described in this study occur in Pliocene sediments in the subsurface continental shelf of Louisi