Foraminíferos bentómcos de Lanzarote, Islas Canarias: playas, salinas y jable

Abstract

A total of 35 live and dead species of benthic foraminifers, have been identified in 15 samples obtained throughout the Lanzarote island in an environment of beach, salinas and jable. The most abundant species in all the samples is Cibiddes refulgens, being accompanied by Elphidium crispum and Lobatula lobatula. This predominant species lives in cold waters of north of Europe. So it is very likely that it arrived at the island transported by the Canaries Current. Species related to upwelling of the northwest of Africa do not appear. The main foraminiferal assemblage is also present in the salinas, where Ammonia tepida is able to survive in dry areas. Finally, in the eolian sands (the jable), the presence of the same assemblage that exists at the present time on the beaches, corroborates the coastal marine origin of superficial sands deposited there