You can download A Guide to 1,000 Foraminifera ebook here.
- Title: A Guide to 1000 Foraminifera: from Southwestern Pacific, New Caledonia
- Author: Jean-Pierre Debenay
- Publisher: Publications Scientifiques du Muséum
- Pages: 386
The story began 35 years ago, in 1976, when I joined the geological team of the ORSTOM center of Nouméa (presently IRD [Institut de Recherche pour le développement]). I was teacher in a high school, but had the opportunity to participate in a research program on the sediments of the southwest lagoon of New Caledonia, in collaboration with F. Dugas. Using the newly arrived R/VVauban, more than 800 samples were collected, over an area about 3,000 km2 , and analyzed – mostly grain size analysis and microscopic observation.
The result was the publication of sedimentological maps together with maps showing the contribution of foraminifera and mollusks to the sediment. Four sets of two maps at 1/50,000 were published concerning the areas of Tontouta, Nouméa, Mont Dore and Prony, from north to south, complemented by substantial explanatory notes. A synthetic map was also published in the Atlas of New Caledonia (1981).
This work coincided with a growth in scientific research programs focalized on the marine environment, hich led to the publication of numerous thematic charts, such as those included in the Atlas of New Caledonia (1981).
Later, an extensive study of the foraminifera from the fraction 0.5-2 mm of all the samples led to the writing and defense of a PhD thesis (DEBENAY, 1986) and to the publication of several related papers, between 1985 and 1988, while I had a position at the university of Dakar… Unfortunately, foraminifera from the fraction 0.125-0.5 mm are still in their boxes and have neverbeen studied.
I came back in New Caledonia in 1997 for a sampling campaign in mangrove swamps, with a view to a more general work on foraminifera from paralic environments (DEBENAY & GUILLOU, 2002). A Guide to 1000 Foraminifera: from Southwestern Pacific, New Caledonia is the final result of that journey.