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. The most trustworthy method involves removing abundant infaunal benthic foraminifera before applying the paleo-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. In case of 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.

This database includes all benthic foraminiferal raw counts, and manuscript data including: 1) paleobathymetric data; 2) foraminiferal and stable isotope data used in figure 8; and 3) PCA assemblages loadings.