Selective dissolution of late cretaceous and earliest tertiary calcareous nannofossils: Experimental evidence

The effects of carbonate dissolution on the taxonomic composition of ancient nannofossil assemblages were investigated by deploying them on a deep mooring at depths of 1039 m–5500 m for 117 days in the Sargasso Sea. The relative proportions of only a few taxa change significantly with increasing dissolution: Cruciplacolithus primus is by far the most susceptible and Micula staurophora by far the most resistant species. The average dissolution indices calculated for the deployed assemblages closely follow the gradients of other dissolution indicators in the North Atlantic.