Factors governing diatom fossil distributions in the surface layer of bottom sediments on the Barents Sea shelf.

Abstract

The surface layer of bottom sediments on the Barents Sea shelf has an irregular but generally very low abundance of diatoms. Tests of species belonging to present-day diatom flora were absent in nearly half of samples; their abundance was only a few shells per gram of dry sediment in 30% of the samples, it was up to 100 shells per gram in 9% of the samples, and was in thousands of shells per gram in only 13% of the samples. The lowest abundances of diatom shells were found in sediments of the eastern and northeastern parts of the sea owing to unfavorable sedimentation conditions and deficiency of dissolved silica in water. But distribution of diatom species on the surface of bottom sediments is strictly consistent with their present-day ranges. About 30% of the samples contained re-deposited Cretaceous and Paleogene diatoms indicating that bottom sediments have largely formed by scouring and re-deposition of underlying material.