Implications of Campanian to early Maastrichtian deep-sea benthic foraminiferal distribution in the western North Atlantic

Abstract

Deep-sea benthic foraminiferal assemblages of Campanian to early Maastrichtian age in the western North Atlantic are taxonomically similar to coeval assemblages in deep-sea sections from various parts of the world, Species composition in the sections studied is largely the product of selective dissolution of less resistant species at depth in relation to a late Cretaceous CCD and partly due to local submarine volcanism or to local incursions of corrosive bottom water. The uniformity in distribution of these assemblages at different latitudes was also partly aided by the absence of vigorous bottom water circulation during the late Cretaceous in the world oceans.