Abstract
Distribution of diatom assemblages in surface sediments of the northernmost Pacific and its marginal seas shows a close correlation to the distribution of major water masses. The water masses, defined mostly by temperature-salinity relations, are the result of the interaction of a complex of processes—including precipitation, river runoff, ice formation and melting, and upwelling and mixing by divergence, wind stress, and tidal currents. At least seven assemblages of diatoms can be defined. They represent the Alaskan Stream, the inner continental shelf, productivity in sea-ice, the East Kamchatka Current, central “dichothermal” waters of the Okhotsk Gyre, outer shelf productivity in the Sea of Okhotsk, and high-temperature, high-salinity oceanic waters in the southern Sea of Okhotsk. Variations in dominance of these assemblages in older sediments can be used to derive detailed information on paleo-hydrography.
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