Friday, 31 August 2007 - 2:10 PM
5.P1.C-3

Holocene oceanographic and climatic variability of the Vega Drift revealed through foraminiferal interpretation

Phillip Szymcek, Geological Sciences, Florida State University, 108 Carraway Building, Tallahassee, FL 32306, Scott E. Ishman, Geology, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Parkinson Lab 303, Mail Code 4324, Carbondale, IL 62901, Eugene W. Domack, Geosciences, Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323, and Amy Leventer, Geology, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346.

Sediment core NBP0003-JPC38 (20.53 m) was recovered from the Vega Drift, Antarctica. Benthic foraminiferal analyses show significant faunal variations indicating important Holocene oceanographic and climatic changes. The early to middle Holocene sequence is dominated by the calcareous Stainforthia fusiformis assemblage and is characterized by calcareous forms including Globocassidulina biora, G. subglobosa, Nonionella iridea, and occurrence of the planktonic species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma. This assemblage has greatest similarities to modern assemblages found in the higher productivity and restricted oceanography of fjords from the western Antarctic Peninsula. The mid to late Holocene interval is defined by the Textularia weisneri and Miliammina arenacea assemblages, similar to modern assemblages directly to the south in the Prince Gustav Channel. The late Holocene is marked by several small intervals with taxonomic characteristics similar to the early to mid Holocene. Most agglutinated forms tend to increase up-core, and comparisons to modern analogues imply post-depositional disintegration.

[Manuscript]

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