Foraminiferal and sediment geochemistry studies in and around Cochin backwaters, southwest coast of India

Based on the foraminiferal studies, 25 foraminifera taxa belonging to 16 genera, 13 families, 10 superfamilies, and 6 suborder have been identified. Various sedimentological parameters such as CaCO3, Organic matter and sand-silt-clay ratio were determined for the samples in order to study the relationship between substrate and foraminiferal populations, and to evaluate the favoured substrate of dominant species populations. Foraminiferal assemblages are more in the silty sand and sand substrate environments. Based on the foraminiferal distribution, in the upper part of the estuary, species diversity are very rare in abundance due to the tidal fluctuation the species are distributed in this region. In the middle estuary due to the mixing of estuarine and marine influence, the diversity is lesser in amount. In the lower estuary near the seashore the species diversity is slightly higher than the middle estuary due to the salinity influence and the open ocean conditions.