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Larger foraminifera and sedimentation around Fongafale Island, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu

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Abstract

Larger foraminifera are an important component of coastal sediments around Fongafale Island, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu, and at least 10 species are present. In the shallow lagoon, foraminifera (mainly Amphistegina lessonii, A. lobifera, Baculogypsina sphaerulata, Calcarina spengleri, Marginopora vertebralis, and Sorites marginalis) are the dominant component of sand and gravel, followed in decreasing order of abundance by calcareous red and green algae, coral, and molluscs. In deeper water, Halimeda replaces the foraminifera. Close inshore, abrasion removes Halimeda and may reduce the number of foraminiferal tests. There is some sediment movement in both onshore and offshore directions although offshore transport appears minor. On land, dissolution that preferentially removes aragonite may increase the proportion of foraminiferal tests to as much as 83% of the subsurface sediment. Sediments on the ocean side are dominated by coral and coralline red algal debris thrown up in 1972 by cyclone Bebe and later moved inshore and lagoonward.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to many staff of the South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC) in Suva for helpful discussions and for providing bathymetric and sedimentological data and logistic support. In particular, we gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Philip Muller, Russell Howorth, and Robert Smith. Faatasi Malologa of the Tuvalu Department of Lands and Survey assisted with some of the sample collecting. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on the text. Direct support for the program of which this study forms part was provided by the Australia and Pacific Science Foundation, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, SOPAC, and Victoria University of Wellington.

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Correspondence to J. D. Collen.

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Communicated by P.K. Swart

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Collen, J.D., Garton, D.W. Larger foraminifera and sedimentation around Fongafale Island, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu. Coral Reefs 23, 445–454 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-004-0396-8

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