PLANKTONIC VS. BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA RATIOS IN RELATION TO SEGMENT C5 IN EL PUJAL SECTION OF THE ORGANYÀ BASIN, SPAIN

The Organyà Basin, located in the south-central Pyrenees of Spain, evolved during a tropical climate which contains shallow water carbonates throughout the borders and organic matter rich towards the depocenter of the basin. The composition of the section being analyzed ranges from limestones to marlstones throughout the early Aptian. Biostratigraphic analysis was performed on El Pujal section of the Organyà basin to determine how the Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE) 1a affected the benthic and planktonic foraminifera ratio as depth decreased. In the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Total Inorganic Carbon (TIC) isotope data, the change in shift is noted towards the top portion of the segment. TIC and TOC isotope data shows how much organic and inorganic matter is present and can be used to relate to the total number of foraminifera present . In this study, 40 samples that build up to the negative shift in TOC are being used. The results will show the percentage of planktonic foraminifera present in relation to depth and the possible factors that could have affected the number of planktonic foraminifera deposited at the time will be discussed.