Late holocene environmental changes in the Southwestern Chukchi Sea inferred from diatom analysis

Abstract

The environmental changes in the southern part of the Chukchi Sea over the last 2300 years (two warmings during the ~262 BC–630 AD and ~630–1300 periods AD and 1 cooling ~1300–1840 AD) were inferred from changes in the content of diatoms in sediments (per gram), the ratio of dominant species, and the ecological structure of diatom assemblages. The sediment age was determined based on the recent ²¹⁰Pb sedimentation rates at the sampling point (0.43 mm/yr) and radiocarbon dating of mollusk shells. The environmental changes in the southern Chukchi Sea that were inferred from the diatom analysis correlate with global climate changes, viz., the warming events of the early (Roman) and the middle (Medieval) Subatlantic and the cooling of the late (Little Ice Age) Subatlantic.