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Holocene diatom stratigraphy in the Archipelago Sea, northern Baltic Sea

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Abstract

Two sediment cores from the Archipelago Sea in the northern Baltic Sea were examined for their siliceous microfossils in order to study the Holocene palaeoenvironmental history of the area. The diatom record was divided into local diatom assemblage zones (LDAZ). An age model was constructed using independent palaeomagnetic and AMS-14C methods. The early history of the Archipelago Sea was freshwater. Initial brackish-water influence is observed at 7,950 ± 80 cal. BP (LDAZ4), but fully brackish conditions were established at 7,700 ± 80 cal. BP (LDAZ5). Diatom assemblages indicate increasing salinity, warming climate, and possible increasing trophic state during the transition from lacustrine to brackish-water conditions. The decreasing abundance of Pseudosolenia calcar-avis (Schultze) Sundström and the increasing abundance of the ice-cover indicator species Pauliella taeniata (Grunow) Round and Basson indicate reduced salinity and climatic cooling after ∼5,000 cal. BP. LDAZ boundaries do not always correlate with changes in the sediment appearance, which underlines the importance of defining biostratigraphic boundaries independently to the sediment visual character, in contrast with the conventional practice for classifying the Baltic Sea sediments.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the K.H. Renlunds foundation for financial support. Tommi Kauppila (Geological Survey of Finland) provided guidance with diatom analysis. Matti Räsänen (University of Turku) critically read the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Nanna Tuovinen & Joonas J. Virtasalo

  2. Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 96, 02151, Espoo, Finland

    Aarno T. Kotilainen

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  1. Nanna Tuovinen
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  2. Joonas J. Virtasalo
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Correspondence to Nanna Tuovinen.

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Tuovinen, N., Virtasalo, J.J. & Kotilainen, A.T. Holocene diatom stratigraphy in the Archipelago Sea, northern Baltic Sea. J Paleolimnol 40, 793–807 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9199-1

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