Specimens of Recent foraminifera of Amphistegina radiata, Peneroplis planatus and Globigerinoides ruber, from fifty samples of surface sediments of the continental margin of the State of Ceará, Brazil, have been analyzed for carbon and oxygen isotopes to investigate oceanographic parameters and determine the values of delta18O of the oceanic water. From a comparison between values of delta18O obtained for ocean water using the linear equations by (Craig and Gordon 1965) and the one by Wolff et al. (1998), it became evident that the former yielded a more reliable value (0.2‰ SMOW) than the latter. Lower values of delta18O for the ocean water in this continental margin resulted from continental water influence. Values of 18O (-0.3‰ to -1.5‰ PDB for benthic foraminifera and -0.6‰ to -2.4‰ PDB for planktic foraminifera), attest to a variation of temperatures of oceanic water masses, in average, between 20 to 22ºC in deep water and 24 to 27ºC, in surface water. Values of delta13C from +3.2‰ to -0.2‰ PDB (benthic foraminifera) reflect a variation in the apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) in the continental margin and indicate that the environments of bacteriological decomposition of organic matter are not continuous along the investigated area.
foraminifers; carbon and oxygen isotopes; continental margin; Ceará; Brazil
