Paleoecological and paleobiogeographic implications of a seagrass-indicating foralgal skeletal assemblage: Retracing the Burdigalian Quilon Limestone (Kerala Basin, SW India)

Seagrasses are marine angiosperms documented in shallow-marine, soft bottom settings across the Cenozoic. They proliferated globally after their divergence from other alismatid monocots in the late Cretaceous followed by an adaptation to the marine environment. Detailed evaluation of seagrasses in the geological archives is of utmost importance to understand their responses to climatic and environmental alterations in the deep time perspective. Here we examine the lower Miocene Quilon Limestone from the Kerala Basin (southwest India) that encompasses a Pseudotaberina-Halimeda floatstone signalling a robust photozoan foralgal skeletal assemblage. This is characterized by the dominant soritid foraminifer Pseudotaberina and the calcareous green alga Halimeda, in association with other foraminifera and representatives from various biotic groups that indicate a tropical seagrass paleoenvironment. Abundant soritids together with various bryopsidalean Halimeda species indicate light and temperature as the major ecological drivers regulating the Quilon Limestone seagrass paleocommunity during the early Miocene (Burdigalian). The spatio-temporal distribution patterns of Halimeda also indicate temperature as the most prominent ecological constraint determining its dispersal and evolution at multiple latitudes. A well illuminated substrate is envisaged to support the development and calcification of the Halimeda thalli. Abundance of K-strategist foraminifera with minor occurrence of suspension-feeding bryozoans and some gastropods, bivalves indicate a low-nutrient environment.