EFFECT OF RIVER DISCHARGE ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL TEST

Twenty one surface sediment samples collected from the inner shelf reg ion off Karwar at 22-52 m water depth range have been studied for fora miniferal content. Based on the external test morphology the entire fo raminiferal population (148 species) can be placed into two broad morp ho-groups namely angular-asymmetrical and rounded-symmetrical morpho-g roups. The surficial distribution of these groups revealed that angula r-asymmetrical morpho-group gets adversely affected by high turbulence associated with increased fresh water river discharge, whereas, round ed-symmetrical morpho-group responded in a reverse manner. Since areal extent of river induced turbulence depends upon fresh water discharge due to monsoonal rains, the results show high potential in generating proxy data for the reconstruction of paleomonsoonal history through t he study of morpho-groups in sub surface sediments of coastal regions.