Analysis of a new micropalaeontological record from the southern margin of the Svalbard Archipelago (Arctic Ocean): preliminary results and palaeoceanographic implications

Preliminary results of micropalaeontological analyses carried on samples from a sediment core recovered in summer 2007 in the Storfjorden area (SW Svalbard margin, Arctic Ocean) reveal changes in the concentrations of coccolithophores, diatoms and dinocysts. The larger shifts seem to be linked to the increase in the strength of the Atlantic-sourced, warm Western Spitsbergen Current and the retreat of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet at the onset of the Last Deglaciation and during the Holocene.