Data report: late Pliocene planktonic foraminifer assemblages from IODP Holes U1443B, U1443C, and U1445A

Abstract

Planktonic foraminifers are key to reconstructing the paleoceanography and monsoon history of the Bay of Bengal. We examined foraminifers from International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1443 on the Ninetyeast Ridge and Site U1445 in the northwest Bay of Bengal, documented the planktonic assemblages, and compared four measures of sample preservation. These samples contain typical late Pliocene assemblages, although the upper stratigraphic limits of Sphaeroidinellopsis seminulina and Dentoglobigerina altispira are more similar to those of the Atlantic Ocean than of the Pacific Ocean. Observations of sample fragmentation and test preservation are more useful than numerical calculations based on foraminifer abundances in describing sample dissolution and offer a consistent means to compare samples from different sites in the Bay of Bengal.