BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL ASSEMBLAGES FROM CURRENT-SWEPT CARBONATE PLATFORMS OF THE NORTHERN NICARAGUAN RISE, CARIBBEAN SEA

Surface samples from five Nicaraguan Rise carbonate banks were analyze d for living and total foraminiferal content, These banks are relative ly deep; banktops average about 40 m in depth, They are constantly exp osed to high energy conditions; the Caribbean Current accelerates as i t passes over the banks causing topographic upwelling, Foraminiferal a ssemblages on Rosalind and Diriangen Banks are relatively similar to t ypical Caribbean assemblages, and are characterized by abundant soriti ds and miliolids, Discorbis rosea and smaller attached species such as Rosalina bradyi, Locations to the northwest, Thunder and Lightning Kn ells and northwest Diriangen Bank, support few soritids, abundant Amph istegina gibbosa, more hyaline species, and a variety of large, perman ently attached species such as Gypsina plana, This assemblage has a mi xture of tropical and temperate features that may aid in the recogniti on of assemblages indicative of tropical, current-dominated, mesotroph ic paleoenvironments in the rock record.