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Environmental Sciences: A Students Companion

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The Holocene
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Major and minor effects of Holocene sea-level rise recorded from microfossils and Ca:Sr ratios in coastal sequences of NW Germany

Gisela Gerdes

g.gerdes{at}icbm.terramare.de

Frank Watermann

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Marine Station, Schleusenstr. 1, D-26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany

To study responses of the depositional environments to Holocene sea-level rise, high-resolution analyses of diatoms, foraminifera and Ca:Sr ratios of two boreholes were performed. The diatoms were differentiated according to pelagic and littoral (benthic) lifestyles, and classified following oligohalobous, mesohalobous or polyhalobous attributes. The foraminifera were grouped into brackish-water and euryhaline tidal-flat species. The sedimentary successions include marine and non-marine facies. Marine facies is characteristic of channels and tidal flats. Non-marine facies units include deposits of a low-lying, lagoonary and swampy hinterland, natural and fluvial levees, and finally fen (reed) complexes. In the boreholes studied, polyhalobous marine pelagic diatoms exceed marine facies boundaries and even occur in peat layers. The occurrence of marine allogenes in non-marine strata suggest an origin from minor sea-level undulations. Since the hinterland was a lowland area, it was easily accessible by landward-directed pulses of the sea. Minor sea-level variations were short enough to not change the environment which remained semi-terrestrial. This is different to the transgressive onlaps.

Key Words: Diatoms • foraminifera • peat • coastal change • Ca:Sr ratio • palaeosalinity • sea-level variations • NW Germany • Holocene

The Holocene, Vol. 13, No. 3, 423-432 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683603hl635rp
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