Recent foraminifera along west coast of India: Restrospect, perspect and prospect

Abstract

An immense quantum of work on foraminifera is being carried out in Indian waters by various research centers and universities. However, a thorough review of the foraminiferal studies from Indian waters is yet to be amde. A critical review will also helf to check repetition of the work and to guide workers to decide the thrust areas and take up multi directional approaches to such studies. In view of this a review of the foraminiferal studies carried out exclusively off the west coast of India as phase 1 (of a three phased projected comprehensive compilation) of data from the Indian waters is presented in this paper. Besides, the publication status of the foraminiferal studies during the last 13 years (1980-1994) in few leading Indian Journals namely Journal of Paleontological Society of India (Paleontology journal), Journal of Geological Society of India (Geology journal), Proceedings Indian Academy of Sciences (Earth atmospheric and oceans journal) and Indian Journal of Marine Science (multi disciplinary oceanography journal) have also been evaluated. A bibliography of the foraminiferal studies and the highlights of the different studies are presented in tabular forms.