Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dinoflagellate Cysts as Paleoproductivity Indicators: State of the Art, Potential, and Limits

  • Conference paper
Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 17))

Abstract

Dinoflagellate cysts are useful marine paleoenvironmental indicators of: sea surface temperatures, salinity, and coastal/oceanic water mass boundaries. Most are coastal/neritic; very few oceanic cysts are produced, and deep sea assemblages probably often include many that are transported long distances from coastal environments. This factor must be considered in attempts to apply standard transfer functions in paleoceanographic interpretations from deep sea sediments. Cysts are potentially useful for productivity studies as indicators of upwelling and eutrophication (especially where mineralized microfossils are absent through dissolution).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bujak JP (1984) Cenozoic dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs from the Bering Sea and northern North Pacific, DSDP Leg 19. Mieropaleontology 30:180–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CLIMAP Project Members (1976) The surface of the iceage Earth. Science 191:1131–1137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale B (1983) Dinoflagellate resting cysts: “benthic plankton”. In: Fryxell GA (ed) Survival strategies of the algae. Cambridge University Press Cambridge: 69–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale B (1985) Dinoflagellate cyst analysis of Upper Quaternary sediments in core GIK 15530–4 from the Skagerrak. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 65:97–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale B (1986) Life cycle strategies of oceanic dinoflagellates. Unesco technical papers in marine science 49:65–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale B, Dale A (1992) Dinoflagellate contributions to the deep Sea. Ocean Biocoenosis Series 5, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole 76 pp

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dale B, Nordberg K (1993) Possible environmental factors regulating prehistoric and historic “blooms” of the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodiniwn catenatum in the Kattegat-Skagerrak region of Scandinavia. In: Smayda TJ, Shimizu Y (eds) Toxic phytoplankton blooms in the sea. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Toxic Marine Phytoplankton Newport Rhode Island USA 28 October — 1 November 1991. Elsevier Science Publishers Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale B, Madsen A, Nordberg K, Thorsen TA (1993) Evidence for prehistoric and historic “blooms” of the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodiniwn catenatum in the Kattegat-Skagerrak region of Scandinavia. In: Smayda TJ, Shimizu Y (eds) Toxic phytoplankton blooms in the sea. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Toxic Marine Phytoplankton Newport Rhode Island USA 28 October — 1 November 1991. Elsevier Science Publishers Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodge J D, Harland R (1991) The distribution of planktonic dinoflagellates and their cysts in the eastern and northeastern Atlantic Ocean. New Phytologist 118:593–603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards LE, Mudie PJ, de Vernal A (1991) Pliocene paleoclimatic reconstruction using dinoflagellate cysts: comparison of methods. Quaternary Science Reviews 10:259–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eppley RW, Harrison WG (1974) Physiological ecology of Gonyaulax polyedra: A red water dinoflagellate of Southern California. In: Locicero V R (ed) The First International Conference on Toxic Dinoflagellate Blooms. The Massachusetts Science and Technology Foundation Wakefield Massachusetts: 11–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Evitt WR (1985) Sporopollenin dinoflagellate cysts — their morphology and interpretation. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Austin 333 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Harland R (1983) Distribution maps of Recent dinoflagellate cysts in bottom sediments from the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. Palaeontology 26:321–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson D A, Ledbetter M, Burkle L H (1977) Verna Channel paleoceanography: Pleistocene dissolution cycles and episodic bottom water flow. Marine Geology 23:1–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lange CB, Berger, WH, Burke SK, Casey RE, Schimmelmann A, Soutar A, Weinheimer AL (1987) El Nino in Santa Barbara Basin: diatom, radiolarian and foraminiferan responses to the “1983 El Nino” event. Mar Geol 78:153–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lange CB, Burke SK, Berger WH (1990) Biological production off southern California is linked to climatic change. Climatic Change 16:319–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis J, Dodge JD, Powell AJ (1990) Quaternary dinoflagellate cysts from the upwelling system offshore Peru, Hole 686B, ODP Leg 112. In: Suess E, von Huene R, et al Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program Scientific Results. Ocean Drilling Program College Station Texas 112:323–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Madsen A (1990) Dinoflagellate cysts in sediment as eutrophication indicators in the Bunnefjord, inner Oslofjord. Unpublished Cand. Scient thesis University of Oslo Norway

    Google Scholar 

  • McMinn A (1992) Recent and Late Quaternary dinoflagellate cyst distribution on the continental shelf and slope of southeastern Australia. Palynology 16:13–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mudie PJ, De Vernal A, Head MJ (1990) Neogene to Recent palynostratigraphy of circumarctic basins: results of ODP Leg 104, Norwegian, Sea Leg 105, Baffin Bay, and DSDP Site 611, Irminger Sea. In: Bleil U, Theide J (eds) Geological History of the Polar Oceans: Arctic versus Antarctic. Kluwer The Hague 609–646

    Google Scholar 

  • Morzadec-Kerfourn M-T (1977) Les Kystes de dinoflagellés dans les sédiments récents le long des côtes Bretonnes. Revue de Micropaléontologie 20:157–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Needham HD, Habib D, Heezen BC (1969) Upper Carboniferous palynomorphs as a tracer of red sediment dispersal patterns in the Northwest Atlantic. Journal of Geology 77:113–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberhänsli H, Heinze P, Diester-Haass L, Wefer G (1990) Upwelling off Peru during the last 430, 000 yr and its relationship to the bottom-water environment, as deduced from coarse grain-size distributions and analyses of benthic foraminifers at Holes 679D, 680B, and 681B, Leg 112. In: Suess E, von Huene R, et al Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program Scientific Results. Ocean Drilling Program College Station Texas 112:369–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell AJ, Lewis J, Dodge JD (1992) The palynological expressions of post-Palaeogene upwelling: a review. In: Summerhayes CP, Prell WL, Emeis KC (eds) Upwelling Systems: evolution since the Early Miocene. Geological Society Special Publication 64: 215–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid PC, Harland R (1977) Studies of Quaternary dinoflagellate cysts from the North Atlantic. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Contribution Series 5A:147–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnepf E, Elbrächter M (1992) Nutritional Strategies in dinoflagellates: a review with emphasis on cell biological aspects. Europ J Protistol 28: 3–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrader H, Sorknes R (1990) Spatial and temporal variation of Peruvian coastal upwelling during the latest Quaternary. In: Suess E, von Huene R, et al Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results. Ocean Drilling Program College Station Texas 112:391–406

    Google Scholar 

  • Smayda TJ (1990) Novel and nuisance phytoplankton blooms in the sea: Evidence for a global epidemic. In: Graneli E, Sundström B, Edler L, Anderson DA (eds) Toxic Marine Phytoplankton. Elsevier New York 29–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Suess E, von Huene R, et al (1990) Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program Scientific Results. Ocean drilling Program College station Texas 112

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor FJR (ed) (1987) The biology of dinoflagellates. Botanical Monographs Volume 21. Blackwell Scientific Publications Oxford 785 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiede J, Suess E (eds) (1983) Coastal upwelling, its sediment record; pt. B. Plenum Press New York 610 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Turon J-L (1980) Dinoflagellés et environnement climatique. Les kystes de dinoflagellés dans les sédiments récents de l’Atlantique nord-oriental et leurs relations avecrenvironnement océanique. Application aux dépots Holocènes du Chenal de Rockall. Memoir Musée Naturelle d’Histoire Paris B27:269–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall D, Dale B (1973) Paleosalinity relationships of dinoflagellates in the Late Quaternary of the Black Sea — a summary. Geoscience and Man 7:95–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall D, Dale B, Lohmann GP, Smith WK (1977) The environmental and climatic distribution of dinoflagellate cysts in modern marine sediments from regions in the North and South Atlantic Oceans and adjacent seas. Marine Micropaleontology 2:121–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zippi PA (1992) Dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy and climate fluctuations in the eastern North Atlantic during the last 150, 000 years. In: Head MJ, Wrenn JH (eds) Neogene and Quaternary Dinoflagellate Cysts and Acritarchs. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation Dallas 55–68

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Blindern, N-0316, Oslo 3, Norway

    B. Dale & A. Fjellså

Authors
  1. B. Dale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Fjellså
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. GEOMAR Forschungszentrum für Marine Geowissenschaften, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Wischhofstraße 1-3, D-24148, Kiel, Germany

    Rainer Zahn

  2. Department of Oceanography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1W5

    Thomas F. Pedersen

  3. Micropalaeontology Unit Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Michael A. Kaminski

  4. Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA, Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Avenue de la Terrasse, F-91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Laurent Labeyrie

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Dale, B., Fjellså, A. (1994). Dinoflagellate Cysts as Paleoproductivity Indicators: State of the Art, Potential, and Limits. In: Zahn, R., Pedersen, T.F., Kaminski, M.A., Labeyrie, L. (eds) Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 17. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78737-9_22

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78737-9_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78739-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78737-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation