Miocene foraminifera from DSDP site 272, Ross Sea

At site 272 a major decrease in foraminiferal abundance and diversity is noted between approximately 138 and 148 meters subbottom. This roughly corresponds to the subunit 2A/2B boundary and occurs at the level of a proposed 4-million-year hiatus which separates Lower and Middle Miocene sediments. Only sporadic occurrences of robust thick-walled forms such as Islandiella spp., Epistominella exigua, Globocassidulina subglobosa, and Nonionella iridea occur below 147 meters (in subunit 2B) and much of the lower succession is barren of foraminifera. Absence of fauna is attributed to dissolution contemporaneous with deposition, or post-depositional diagenesis. Site 272 foraminiferal assemblages may have been subjected to glacial transport and redeposition and/or bottom current reworking. The wide size range of foraminifera at any stratigraphic level suggests size sorting is not a significant factor.