Postsettlement Diatom Succession in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario

Abstract

Siliceous algal microfossil assemblages deposited in the Bay of Quinte prior to European settlement consist of low numbers of benthic diatoms and chrysophyte cysts. Early settlement activities are marked by qualitative changes in the flora and small increases in microfossil flux. Events associated with the Ambrosia horizon produced a rapid transition from assemblages characteristic of oligotrophy environments to those characteristic of eutrophic waters and a large increase in microfossil flux. This was followed by a period of decreasing siliceous microfossil flux and reestablishment of less eutrophic species ca. 1853–61. Minimum siliceous algal microfossil flux and highly atypical assemblages occurred in the period ca. 1879–88, which corresponds to the period of intensive mining activities in the Bay of Quinte watershed. Maximum flux of siliceous microfossils occurred ca. 1900 and declined thereafter, although composition of assemblages deposited indicates increasing eutrophy and displacement of summer-blooming species. We interpret this as evidence of beginning of summer silica limitation. Based on microfossil evidence, the modern eutrophic flora of the bay was established by 1928.