TY - JOUR
T1 - Darss Sill as a biological border in the fossil record of the Baltic Sea: evidence from diatoms
AU - Witkowski, Andrzej
AU - Broszinski, Anja
AU - Bennike, Ole
AU - Janczak-Kostecka, Beata
AU - Jensen, Jørn Bo
AU - Lemke, Wolfram
AU - Endler, Rudi
AU - Kuijpers, Antoon
N1 - Funding Information:
Part of the material presented in this paper was analysed within a framework of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship. The authors are grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for granting a scholarship to A.W. The contribution of B.K.-J. was supported by the State Committee on Scientific Research (KBN) in Warsaw (Grant No. 6PO4 043 14). The authors are grateful to the reviewers for their helpful comments, which distinctly improved the manuscript.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Biostratigraphical and palaeoecological analyses of cores along a transect from Femer Belt to the Arkona Basin reveal that North Sea waters began to enter the western Baltic Sea between 8600 and 8400 calibrated years BP. Studies of diatoms indicate that Mecklenburg Bay was characterised by slightly brackish-water conditions between 8400 and 8000 cal. years BP. At around 8000 cal. years BP increasing salinity is indicated by a strong dominance of the diatoms Paralia sulcata and Dimeregramma minor. Some centuries later another diatom assemblage appeared and became dominant in Mecklenburg Bay. This assemblage includes Hyalinella lateripunctata and Pravifusus hyalinus species typical of shallow water areas along the Atlantic coast today. At this time the first marine molluscs made their appearance. The oldest shell of a marine mollusc found in our material is dated to 7600 cal. years BP. The associated assemblage that includes adult specimens of the gastropod Aporrhais pespelicani indicates higher salinities than today. During the Littorina Sea stage a marine diatom flora with P. sulcata, Catenula adhaerens and D. minor crossed the Darss Sill and became widely distributed in the Arkona Basin, Pomeranian Bay and the Baltic Sea proper. In contrast, taxa indicative of the Hyalinella lateripunctata/P. hyalinus assemblage are only found west of the Darss Sill in Femer Belt and Mecklenburg Bay. Apparently, the Darss Sill threshold has been acting as an important salinity border from around 7800 cal. years BP until today.
AB - Biostratigraphical and palaeoecological analyses of cores along a transect from Femer Belt to the Arkona Basin reveal that North Sea waters began to enter the western Baltic Sea between 8600 and 8400 calibrated years BP. Studies of diatoms indicate that Mecklenburg Bay was characterised by slightly brackish-water conditions between 8400 and 8000 cal. years BP. At around 8000 cal. years BP increasing salinity is indicated by a strong dominance of the diatoms Paralia sulcata and Dimeregramma minor. Some centuries later another diatom assemblage appeared and became dominant in Mecklenburg Bay. This assemblage includes Hyalinella lateripunctata and Pravifusus hyalinus species typical of shallow water areas along the Atlantic coast today. At this time the first marine molluscs made their appearance. The oldest shell of a marine mollusc found in our material is dated to 7600 cal. years BP. The associated assemblage that includes adult specimens of the gastropod Aporrhais pespelicani indicates higher salinities than today. During the Littorina Sea stage a marine diatom flora with P. sulcata, Catenula adhaerens and D. minor crossed the Darss Sill and became widely distributed in the Arkona Basin, Pomeranian Bay and the Baltic Sea proper. In contrast, taxa indicative of the Hyalinella lateripunctata/P. hyalinus assemblage are only found west of the Darss Sill in Femer Belt and Mecklenburg Bay. Apparently, the Darss Sill threshold has been acting as an important salinity border from around 7800 cal. years BP until today.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=11244289419&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.035
DO - 10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.035
M3 - Article
SN - 1040-6182
VL - 130
SP - 97
EP - 109
JO - Quaternary International
JF - Quaternary International
IS - 1
ER -