Planktonic foraminifera from the Pliocene Coralline Crag of Suffolk, Eastern England

Abstract. Nine species of planktonic foraminifera have recently been identified from the Coralline Crag of Suffolk, Eastern England. Stratigraphically important species include Globorotalia puncticulata (Deshayes) and Neogloboquadrina atlantica (Berggren) whose joint ranges, based on evidence from the North Atlantic, indicate an age for the deposit of between c. 4.2 and 2.3 Ma; other published evidence suggests that it may not be younger than c. 3.4 Ma. The low planktonic foraminiferal species diversity is interpreted as being due to a combination of factors, including the shallow water nature of the Coralline Crag, which would preclude deeper water species of planktonic foraminifera, and the possibility that the source of the fauna was from relatively high latitudes of the North Atlantic via the northern entrance to the North Sea. The planktonic foraminifera recorded indicate that the water temperature of the sea was within the range 10–18°C.

The Coralline Crag contains very rich Lusitanian faunas of gastropod and bivalve molluscs, bryozoans, ostracods and benthic foraminifera.