Physico-chemical stratigraphy of Gotland Basin Holocene sediments, the Baltic Sea

• Main Authors: Harff, Jan, Bohling, Geoffrey, Davis, John, Endler, Rudolf, Kunzendorf, Helmar, Olea, Ricardo, Schwarzacher, Walkter, Voss, Maren
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Sediment; Physical properties; Inorganic geochemistry; Nitrogen isotope; Carbon isotope; Grey scale values; Physical-chemical zonation; Stratigraphic correlation; Holocene; Gotland Basin; Baltic Sea; Greenland; Greenland ice cores
• Online Access: http://lmavb.lvb.lt/LMAVB:ELABAPDB5841620&prefLang=en_US

Late Pleistocene to Holocene sediment cores from the Eastern Gotland Basin, Central Baltic Sea, were investigated by a numerical analysis of MSCL data describing the physical facies and geochemical data. A master core showing an almost complete sediment sequence was subdivided into lithostratigraphic units (zones) using a depth-constrained multivariate classification procedure including the variables p-wave velocity, wet bulk density, and magnetic susceptibility. This zonation coincides with the general stratigraphic frame for Holocene sediments in the Baltic Sea Basins. Using a numerical correlation procedure based on p-wave velocity and wet bulk density, the zonation of Litorina and post-Litorina sediments (units B-I to B-6) was extended laterally to nearby cores. An acoustic index indicates varying oxygen supply to bottom water during deposition. Principal component scores derived from geochemical data are used as indicators of terrigenous flux into the basin and ofbioproduction. Comparisons of grey-scale time series curves within the laminated units with d180 time series curves from Greenland ice cores, tree-ring curves from western Europe, and solar activity suggest a correlation between the Baltic Sea depositional environment and climate change indicators.