Quantitative palaeobathymetric reconstructions based on foraminiferal proxies: a case study from the Neogene of south-west Spain Pérez Asensio, José Noel Palaeobathymetric reconstructions Sea-level changes Foraminifera This study was funded by the Spanish Research Project PGC2018-099391-B-I00. JNPA is member of the group RNM-190 (Junta de Andalucía), and Climate Research Group (CEREGE). I am very grateful to Professor Julio Aguirre (University of Granada) for his helpful comments on an early draft of this manuscript. I thank Jodi Eckart for correcting the English text. Quantitative palaeobathymetric reconstructions based on foraminiferal proxies have been used in a wide variety of geological studies on tectonic, climatic and environmental changes in sedimentary basins. However, palaeo-water-depth estimates are frequently biased due to taphonomic processes (dissolution, transport) as well as local conditions (primary productivity, oxygen content, and organic matter fluxes). This study evaluated the level of reliability of three commonly used transfer equations based on planktic and benthic foraminiferal proxies that produce different palaeobathymetric results, using Neogene sediments from the Guadalquivir Basin, south-west Spain. The most trustworthy method involves removing abundant infaunal benthic foraminifera before applying the palaeo-water-depth equation based on benthic foraminiferal water-depth ranges and presence/absence of species. This new approach provides sound palaeobathymetric results that improve estimations of long and short-term relative sea-level changes with negligible influence of taphonomic as well as ecological factors. When using one equation based on planktic/benthic ratios (P/B ratios), removing all infaunal benthic foraminiferal species improves the accuracy of P/B ratios, which yields more accurate palaeodepth reconstructions despite the low level of trustworthiness of this equation for both long and short term relative sea-level variations. 2026-01-15T11:28:15Z 2026-01-15T11:28:15Z 2021-06-09 journal article Publisher version: Pérez Asensio, J. N. (2021). Quantitative palaeobathymetric reconstructions based on foraminiferal proxies: a case study from the Neogene of south-west Spain. PalaeontologyVolume 64, Issue 4 pp. 475-488. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12538 1475-4983 0031-0239 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109745 10.1111/pala.12538 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Wiley