Benthic foraminiferal evidence of environmental change in the Skagerrak over the past six decades

Abstract

High resolution analyses of fossil benthic forminiferal assemblages have been performed on two short (<40cm) sediment cores from the deep Skagerrak Basin, NE North Sea. 210 Pb-datings of replicate cores from the same two stations have made it possible to calculate accumulation rates of both sediments and benthic foraminiferal tests, and the vertical (historical) assemblage distri- butions are compared with sediment surface assemblages collected in 1937 and 1992\/93. The core data show that the accumulation rate of agglutinated tests was relatively constant from about 1770 to 1940-1950 and that it has increased about 5-6 times since the late 1960's compared to average pre-1940 values.