Benthic foraminifera in sandy (siliciclastic) coastal sediments of the Arabian Gulf (Saudi Arabia): a technical report

Abstract

The current report presents the benthic foraminiferal assemblages in a unique siliciclastic sediment substrate in Half Moon Bay on the Saudi coastline. At this locality, only two genera namely Elphidium de Montfort 1808 and Ammonia Brünnich 1772 were observed in a depth transect. The genus Elphidium dominated the foraminiferal assemblages, supporting the idea of its resistant nature in a siliciclastic environment where the mechanical action of waves and minor accumulations of organic matter prevent abundant and/or diversified foraminiferal assemblages. Environmental analysis suggests that the site is completely unpolluted, and the foraminiferal assemblage is unaffected by anthropogenic factors and only reflects seasonal and substrate parameters. It can be therefore considered as a benchmark for future studies along the Saudi coastline. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report presenting information on foraminiferal assemblages from a siliciclastic environment in the western Arabian Gulf, as previous studies were reported from carbonate sand and muddy substrates.

Appendix

Table 1 Physicochemical parameters of the water and grain size parameters and quartz content of the sediments in the sampling stations

Table 2 Nitrates, sulfates, total organic carbon (TOC), total hydrocarbon content (THC), and heavy metal contents in the depth transect

Table 3 Benthic foraminiferal assemblage parameters and relative abundances of the recognized taxa with minimum, maximum, and mean values in the depth transect