Diatom assemblages from the Tortonian of northeast Indian Ocean (NGHP- 01- 17A): correlation with significant radiolarian and calcareous nannofossil events

Abstract

The present study has been carried out from the NGHP sediment core (NGHP-01-17A) of northeast Indian Ocean on different siliceous microfossils represented by diatoms and radiolarians along with calcareous nannofossils. Samples from the bottommost subunit Ic of the sediment core (684.09 mbsf to 369.62 mbsf) have been analysed. This contribution is the first comprehensive account on the Tortonian diatom assemblages from the offshore of northeast Indian Ocean that has been integrated with the radiolarian zonations. For determining the relative age of the sequence more precisely the obtained dataset also have been correlated to the calcareous nannofossil zones and eventually an attempt has been made to establish an integrated biostratigraphy. Detailed taxonomic analysis of the diatoms reveals the presence of 118 diatom taxa belonging to 49 genera. Three diatom biozones have been determined using CONISS cluster analysis. Based on the index radiolarian taxa in the studied samples, the entire sequence is assignable to RN6, RN7 and RN8 zones. The samples also contain stratigraphic marker taxa of calcareous nannofossils that allow identifying NN9, NN10 and NN11 zones corresponding to CNM13 - CNM16 zones. The ages of the bottommost and topmost sample of the analysed section of the core have been estimated < 10.49 Ma and > 7.39 Ma respectively. To estimate the sedimentation rate an age-depth model has been proposed using diatom, radiolarian and calcareous nannofossil events. All the microfossil assemblages of the present study have been correlated with the known assemblages of late Miocene, specifically Tortonian from DSDP, ODP, IODP expeditions and onshore sediments of Indian Ocean as well as equatorial Pacific Ocean. Diversity analysis has been carried out to quantitatively estimate the diversity and dominance of the diatom taxa. Planktic/benthic ratio of the diatoms has been calculated to evaluate the water depth.