Taxonomy of recent benthic foraminifera, determination of the variation of foraminiferal test morphologies and biodiversity along the coastal area between Anamur-Yanışlı (Mersin)

The material of this master thesis, which was carried out along the 80 km long coastal area between Anamur and Yanışlı (Gülnar) (Mersin), consists of 25 Quaternary (Holocene) aged recent sediment samples which were sistematically taken from the bottom of the Mediterranean. In the study area, 5 distinct Quaternary aged units were determined. Along this coastal area, 7 orders, 35 families, 62 genera and 108 species for benthic foraminifera which have agglutinant, porcelain and hyaline test wall types were identified. It has been observed that the majority of the soil class of the seafloor sediments is SP (poorly graded sand, gravelly sand), the average grain size is relatively high in the western and central parts of the coastal area, and the sand grain size is dominant along the coast. The ratio of organisms in the sediments were reached a maximum of 26%, the total number of foraminiferal individuals were reached 233 individuals, and the total number of foraminiferal species were reached 50 species. It was determined that 64 of a total of 1370 foraminiferal tests exhibit abnormal morphologies. Foraminiferal Abnormality Index (FAI) values were reached up to a maximum of 10 at 13 locations. 7 distinct marine environments and foraminiferal assemblages were determined by test wall type ratios ternary diagram method. It was determined in the foraminiferal biodiversity analysis that Simpsons (1949) and Shannon and Weiner (1949) species diversity and Margalef (1958) species richness indices were increased significantly in the middle part of the coast. It was determined that the Pielou (1966) index was determined that the species equability was low in the middle part of the coast and the number of individuals per species was not evenly distributed in each sample. ICP-OES analyzes were performed on two selected samples with high FAI values and high coloration tests. It had been considered that the enrichments in K, Mn, Cu, Pb and Fe elements due to antropogenic factors were the causes of the abnormalities and coloration in the tests.