Foraminiferal Paleoecology and Paleoceanography of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway: Northern San Juan Basin

人口结构的显著波动 浮游有孔虫，特别是来自 陆表海，被认为是记录水团变化的 特性. 白垩纪西部内陆航道代表了 动态界面之间的广泛变化的水团响应 海平面升降、幕式构造作用和 沉降和气候变化。 白垩纪海洋 序列富含有孔虫， 严格评估有孔虫古生态学的机会。 假设保存完好的有孔虫 组合记录了水团边界的移动和/或变化 在水体结构的性质，通过时间，PI将测试 假设西海岸线的阶段性迁移 边缘影响了海道的古海洋学， 在近海泥岩相中观察到。 详细分析 浮游有孔虫和底栖有孔虫的种群结构， 再加上粘土矿物学和其他沉积学， 地球化学技术，将用于开发强大的 西部白垩纪有孔虫古生态模式 内海航道。 这些模型将有助于评估 未开发地区的资源潜力。

Marked fluctuations in the population structure of planktonic foraminifera, particularly in assemblages from epicontinental seas, are believed to recrod changes in water-mass properties. The Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway represented a dynamic interface between widely varying water masses responding to eustatic sealevel fluctuations, episodic tectonism and subsidence, and climatic variability. The Cretaceous marine sequences are rich in foraminifera and represent a rare opportunity to rigorously evaluate foraminiferal paleoecology. With the assumption that well-preserved foraminiferal assemblages recrod shifts in water mass boundaries and/or changes in water mass structure of properties through time, PIs will test the hypothesis that episodic shoreline migrations of the western margin influenced the paleoceanography of the seaway, and can be observed as such in offshore mudrock facies. Detailed analyses of planktonic and benthic foraminiferal population structure, coupled with clay mineralogy and other sedimentologic and geochemical techniques, will be used to develop robust paleoecologic models for Cretaceous foraminifera of the Western Interior Seaway. Such models will be useful for evaluating the resource potential of unexplored areas.