Deep Sea Ostracoda and their Micro-Environmental Characteristics from Upper Abyssal Short Core (2540 Metres Water Depth), Off Visakhapatnam, Bay of Bengal, India

Deep sea Ostracods and their relationship to the variations in the sedimentological characteristics is the prime focus of the present work. We report two deep sea Ostracod taxa namely Krithe sp. and Cytherpteron sp. belonging to suborder Podocopa, order Podocopida, have recovered from the subsurface (core length 33 cm) sediments at a water depth of 2540 metres. Throughout the core, fine grained muddy substrate is dominant, which indicates prevalence of low energy condition in the region and the fine sedimentation accounts from the suspended load of shallow region. Along the depth 24-27cm in the core, showing an abnormal fluctuation of Organic matter and Calcium carbonate in the region. This, along with the occurrence of broken planktic Foraminifera with well-preserved Benthic foraminifers and Ostracods, lights on to a high turbulence in the surface waters during the period of sediment deposition during the time. Element weight percentage has determined using EDS for Mg, Ca, Mn, Fe, Sr and Ba and the results shows that a different trend in elemental concentration exists between these two species, even though the carapace is calcareous. Ostracod occurrence and distribution denotes that a direct relationship exists between the sediment characteristics, shell chemistry and the water column depth.