Foraminifera and biostratigraphy of the Bowden shell bed, Jamaica, West Indies

The type Woodring shell bed locality of the Bowden Formation is located on the eastern side of Port Morant Harbour on the southeast coast of Jamaica, parish of St Thomas. Eight samples were studied from a measured section which included the Bowden shell bed. A total of 182 species and 105 genera of benthic foraminifera are identified and charted from this late Pliocene measured section. The Bowden Formation is represented at the shell bed locality by interbedded sands and clays. There is an upward deepening of the palaeo-water depths at this locality ranging from shallow-outer neritic to deep-outer neritic (100-200 m). Additional localities used as reference sections contain rare upper bathyal species. The measured section is equivalent to Zone N21 of Blow (late Pliocene). All samples are below the Last Appearance Datum (LAD) of Globorotalia miocenica and Gl. exilis and above the LAD of Dentoglobigerina altispira and Globorotalia multicamerata. The shell bed is dominated by highly-abraded shallow water (inner neritic, less than 20 m) foraminifera which represent a downslope transport of inner neritic sediments and fossils into an outer neritic environment.