Defining and Differentiating Marine Coastal Facies and Subenvironments: a Foraminiferal Approach

Distributions of modern foraminifera have been used extensively as the basis for reconstructions of past environments. However, the assemblages of foraminifera from several coastal subenvironments (coastal dunes, beach, upper and lower shoreface, shallow inner shelf, ebb tide delta), characterized by similar lithologies, have not been used to investigate whether these subenvironments can be distinguished micropaleontologically. We propose to utilize an unstudied suite of vibracores and geophysical data from offshore of Bogue Banks, North Carolina to address this question. Six undergraduate students and one graduate student will take part in all aspects of the proposed research. This study will provide new data on the characteristics of coastal depositional facies that can be applied to the development of the regional stratigraphic framework for petroleum studies, sea-level investigations and marine mineral assessments.

Scholars @ ECU