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WP 5 Paleontological Record of Size Spectra in Holocene
Leader: Joanna Pawłowska

The research questions:
  • How does foraminiferal community size structure change along the thermal gradient observed off Norwegian coast?
  • How the size structure of benthic foraminifera community off west Spitsbergen responded to climatic and hydrological changes during the Holocene?
  • Can the size structure of Foraminifera assemblages be used as paleoenvironmental proxy in shorter time/higher temporal resolution scale studies (as Holocene studies)?
Objectives:

Changes of modern forminifera community size structure will be analysed based on the surface sediment samples taken along the thermal gradient spanning the areas from Northern Norway to Northern Spitsbergen. The Holocene size spectra analysis will be performed on Foraminifera collections from the cores taken in the mouth of Hornsund fjord (SW Spitsbergen) and Storfjorden (E Spitsbergen),which span 13.6 and 12.8 kyr, respectively. Special attention will be paid to species dominating in the studied area i.e. Elphidium excavatum, Cassidulina reniforme, Nonionellina labradorica, Cibicides lobatulus and Quinqueloculina seminulum. The size structure will be explored both at species and whole assemblage level. The local environmental changes during the Holocene will be reconstructed based on sedimentological proxies and isotopic composition of foraminiferal tests (i.e. paleotemperature δ18O record and sea productivity δ13C record).