Comparison study of the modem ostracod associations in the Kara and Laptev seas: Ecological aspects

• Published in: Marine Micropaleontology
• Main Authors: Stepanova, A., Taldenkova, E., Simstich, J., Bauch, H. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2007
• Subjects: Kara Sea; Laptev Sea; laptev; Thermokarst
• Online Access: http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/711/; http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/711/1/simstitch_marine_micropal2007.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2006.10.003

Recent ostracod assemblages were investigated from coretop sediment samples collected in the eastern Kara Sea from water depths down to 300 m. A total of 45 species were identified, 27 of them were reported for the Kara Sea for the first time. The Kara Sea data were compared with our results on the distribution of ostracods in the eastern Laptev Sea. The spatial distribution of recent taxa and the ecological groupings demonstrate a clear relation to dominant environmental factors which range from estuarine to full-marine conditions. Four assemblages related to average summer bottom water salinities were established: (1) a freshwater assemblage from the inner estuaries of the Ob' and Yenisei rivers with salinities less than 2 and from thermokarst lagoons of the southern Laptev Sea coast with strong salinization in winter; (2) a brackishwater assemblage of the outer estuaries of the Ob' and Yenisei rivers with salinities up to 26; (3) a mixed euryhaline–marine assemblage dominated by euryhaline species Paracyprideis pseudopunctillata and Heterocyprideis sorbyana from the inner shelf river-affected zone of the Kara and Laptev seas, where salinities range between 26 and 32; (4) a taxonomically diverse marine assemblage dominated by shallow-water marine taxa from the northern parts of the Kara and Laptev shelves and upper continental slope with stable bottom environments and a salinity higher than 32. Abundant euryhaline species found at greater water depths are identified as part of an ice-rafted assemblage. They are possibly entrained into the newly formed fast ice during autumn storms and freeze-up period and then transported to the distal open-sea areas during summer.