Total benthic foraminifera assemblages in the southwestern Spanish estuaries

One hundred and twenty-one samples were collected in three estuaries of the Huelva littoral (SW Spain). The 12,923 individuals picked were assigned to forty-seven species. The analysis of the foraminiferal percentages allows the distinction of seven assemblages: two salt marsh assemblages (Trochammi na inflata and Jadammina macrescens), four assemblages widely represented b oth in the channel margins and the channels (Ammonia inflata Astrononion st elligerum, Cribroelphidium vadescens, Ammonia ammoniformis) and one margina l marine assemblage (Ammonia beccarii-Quinqueloculina spp). The distributio n of these assemblages is controlled by the salinity, the altitude above th e lowest tidal level and, to a lesser extent, by the grain size, organic ma tter and the test transport. In the Tinto-Odiel estuary, both effects of he avy metal pollution and sedimentary changes in the foraminiferal distributi on were analyzed, indicating some recuperation mainly in the Odiel river, o ne of the most polluted areas of the world. Editions scientifiques et medic ales Elsevier SAS.