Fossil mollusc-faunas: Their bearing on the Holocene evolution of the Lower Central Plain of Bangkok (Thailand)

In this work, fossil molluscan assemblages are analyzed in order to reconstruct the evolution of the Northern Gulf of Thailand during the Holocene. The marine sediments (Bangkok Clay Formation) of the Lower Central Plain of Bangkok and the coastal plain of Phetchaburi were sampled at 16 localities, obtaining fossil shells and mangrove peat whose 14C ages range from 9000 to 2000 CYBP. A statistical treatment of abundance data returned four major groups, namely the Dendostrea rosacea association (intertidal mud), the Corbula fortisulcata–Mactra luzonica association (shallow infralittoral sandy mud), the Nuculana mauritiana–Timoclea scabra association (infralittoral sand spit) and the Timoclea scabra–Arcopagia pudica association (infralittoral mud). The data allowed both a stratigraphic correlation along two transects covering all of the Holocene basin and the creation of digitalized maps showing the presumable extension of the Thai paleogulf around the apex of Flandrian transgression event (about 5500 CYBP).