A first account of pteropod taxa from off Saurashtra, western offshore of India: Implications for palaeohydrological studies

Abstract

Pteropod aragonitic shells contribute to 12% of biogenic inorganic carbon flux to the world ocean but are also prone to dissolution. Though their state of preservation and generic ratios, namely Creseis/Limacina have been used as a proxy for palaeoclimatic reconstruction, their taxonomic attributes have remained unexplored. The present study reports 20 pteropod species from a single location in the northeastern Arabian Sea offshore of Saurashtra, all of which show the same degree of preservation throughout the core. The occurrence of mesopelagic fauna in the study area located on the shelf region however points to palaeoenvironmental changes and underscores the importance of employing pteropod assemblages for palaeoclimatic reconstructions in the study area.