Influência dos Fatores Ambientais na Preservação da Microfauna de Foraminíferos Bentônicos no Ambiente Recifal dos Parrachos de Maracajaú, RN, Brasil.

Taphonomy focuses on the post-mortem processes of transport and preservation of biotic remains in the sedimentaryrecord, and as such it has important applications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The aim of this work is to verifythe degree of dissolution, abrasion, bioerosion and fragmentation in foraminiferal tests recovered from bottom sedimentsof the Parrachos de Maracajaú, Rio Grande do Norte, and to estimate the influence of these taphonomic processes in thedistributon and preservation of the assemblages. Fifty-one species of benthic foraminifera have been found in the studiedsite. The taxonomic composition is typical of a coral reef environment. Amphistegina lessoni, Sorites marginalis, Quinqueloculinalamarckiana, Q. agglutinans, Peneroplis carinatus and Archaias angulatus are abundant in all the studiedlocalities. The energy of the environment was interpreted as high. The species have been grouped into two groups, andthe statistical data show that all four taphonomic processes (dissolution, abrasion, bioerosion and fragmentation) haveinfluenced the distribution and preservation patterns of the foraminifera