BENTHIC AND PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA IN PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN. EVOLUTION OF ASSEMBLAGES AND HABITATS

Abstract

The main task of paleoclimatology is the definition of the trend of climatic change and the identification of the events that occurred in the Earth's history. The Pleistocene, especially the late Pleistocene, was an epoch of significant climatic fluctuation. The changes in climate are most clearly revealed in the variations of microfaunal assemblages. The comparative study of microfaunal assemblages and their changes over time in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans permits one to identify climatic events and to understand the processes associated with them. However, very little of such work was done in the Arctic Ocean. The authors attempted to identify the changes in the surficial and abyssal conditions in the central zone of the Arctic Basin during the late Pleistocene. They did this by analyzing the material from core 34 from the Mendeleyev Ridge. The results indicate that in the Pleistocene epoch, there occurred sharp variations in climate in the Arctic Basin, which engendered strong changes in the circulation of surface and deep waters.