Coccoliths in sediments of the eastern Arctic Basin

Abstract

Surface sediment samples and five sediment cores recovered during the Polarstern ARK IV/3 cruise have been investigated in detail for species composition and nannofossil abundance using light and scanning electron microscopes. Coccoliths were observed in all surface sediments and cores north of the continental margin of the Barents Sea, indicating oxygen isotope stages 1 to at least 5. During the last interglacial, North Atlantic Current water and pack-ice distribution, comparable to ice conditions during stage 3 in the Fram Strait, enabled coccolithophorids to live up to at least 86°08′N. In the southern region of the Eastern Arctic Basin sedimentation rates are in the order of several centimeters per 1000 yr but decrease to a few millimeters per 1000 yr in sediments near the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge. -Author