Paleoenvironments and correlations of interglacial sediments in the North Sea

Abstract

Benthic foraminiferal faunas suggesting interglacial climatic conditions are present in several shallow drillings in the North Sea and in northern Jutland. Denmark. The interglacial deposits in six of the cores arc correlated by means of isoleucine epimerization, paleomagnetic data and environmental inferences. Four episodes of interglacial circulation are recorded in sediments of Brunhes age and one warm episode is found just below the Brunhes Matuyama boundary. The Holocene and Eemian faunas of the North Sea are richer in species and individuals and contain more thermophilous species than the older interglacial faunas. However. a much more northern distribution of Bulimina marginata in sediments of Eemian age suggests that oceanic circulation was different during this period than during the Holocene. Sediments of the three other Brunhes interglacials (the Holsteinian, the Norwegian Trench and the Devils Hole Interglacial) and the Leerdam Interglacial record periods of relatively cooler conditions and possibly reduced inflow of Atlantic water.