Bottom water and benthonic foraminifera in the North Atlantic—Glacial-interglacial contrasts

Abstract

Today, below 2500 m, benthonic foraminiferal faunas in the North Atlantic are dominated by a few species. Faunal composition changes slowly with increasing depth and decreasing temperature. Surface sediment and down-core counts of benthonic foraminifera reported by Phleger, Parker, and Peirson (1953) in the reports of the Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition have been supplemented by additional bottom sediment and piston core samples. Present-day benthonic foraminiferal assemblages from the deeper portions of the North Atlantic appear to be controlled more by the distribution of bottom water types than by bathymetry. In most piston cores, the assemblages vary greatly during the last 150,000 yr, suggesting depression and elevation of faunas at the core site through a depth range of several hundred meters. This would indicate that bottom water characteristics have shifted back and forth in this interval of time and, therefore, that bottom circulation partakes in the well-documented shifts recorded for surface waters of the North Atlantic. It appears that dense water, similar to present-day North Atlantic Deep Water, was produced over a wide area north of 45° N during cooler intervals and that it spread widely at depth.