A multi-proxy study of Pliocene sediments from Île de France, North-East Greenland

A multi-proxy study of Pliocene sediments from IŒle de France,North-East Greenland

Ole Bennike a;�, Niels Abrahamsen b, MaIgorzata Bak c, Carsten Israelson d,Peter Konradi a, Jens Matthiessen e, Andrzej Witkowski c

a Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Thoravej 8, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmarkb Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, Finlandsgade 8, DK-8200 A( rhus N, Denmark

c Institute of Marine Sciences, Szczecin University, Felczaka 3a, 71-412 Szczecin, Polandd Statens Institut for Strafilehygiejne, Knapholm 7, DK-2730 Herlev, Denmark

e Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar und Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany

Received 2 October 2001; accepted 31 May 2002

Abstract

A multi-technique approach has been used to study a Pliocene shallow water marine deposit, designated the IŒlede France Formation, in North-East Greenland. The sequence is correlated on the basis of 87Sr^86Sr ratios in shellsand palaeomagnetic studies with the Gauss normal polarity chron, which is dated to between 2.60 and 3.58 Ma yearsBP. This dating is in accordance with amino acid epimerisation and evidence from dinoflagellates, foraminifers andmolluscs. Sediments, marine molluscs and foraminifers show that the sequence was deposited on the inner shelf, belowstorm wave base. Seawater temperatures were much higher than today, as demonstrated by the occurrence of anumber of southern extra-limital species. The same applies to air temperature, and the few remains of land plants mayindicate a forested upland with Picea and Thuja. A number of extinct taxa are present, including Nucula jensenii thatis erected as a new species. : 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Greenland; Pliocene; mollusc; foraminifer; diatom; dino£agellate; geochronology; Gauss chron

1. Introduction

In 1990 a succession of pre-Holocene sedimentswas discovered on the island of IŒle de France inNorth-East Greenland (Fig. 1). Radiocarbon dat-ing of shells yielded non-¢nite ages, and foramin-ifer analyses indicated a Late Pliocene or EarlyPleistocene age (J.Y. Landvik, personal commu-

nication, 1992; Landvik, 1994). In 1998 this suc-cession was studied and sampled in more detail,and it soon became clear from its macrofaunathat a Pliocene age was most likely. Since well-dated Pliocene sediments were hitherto unknownfrom Greenland, a multidisciplinary study of thesequence was carried out, and this paper presentsthe results of these studies, and puts the ¢ndingsinto perspective.Over the last few decades, many pre-Holocene

sequences with unconsolidated sediments havebeen discovered in Greenland, especially in the

0031-0182 / 02 / $ ^ see front matter : 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.PII: S 0 0 3 1 - 0 1 8 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 4 3 9 - X

* Corresponding author. Fax: +45-38-14-20-50.E-mail address: [email protected] (O. Bennike).

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Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186 (2002) 1^23

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northern parts. Many of these can be referred tothe last interglacial stage, or to Middle Pleistoceneinterglacial stages, but a few are referred to thePlio^Pleistocene transition. The most notable isthe Kap KLbenhavn Formation in Peary Land,North Greenland (Fig. 1), from which rich anddiverse £ora and fauna of marine and non-marineenvironments have been described (e.g. Bennike,1990; Bo«cher, 1995; S|¤monarson et al., 1998;Funder et al., 2001). The Lodin Elv Formationin central East Greenland is also dated to thePlio^Pleistocene, based on analyses of benthic fo-raminifera (Feyling-Hanssen et al., 1983), whilethe Pattor¢k beds in West Greenland may dateto the Early Pleistocene (Funder and S|¤monarson,1984; K.L. Knudsen, personal communication,1993). In addition, concentrations of wood foundon the terrain surface at several sites in NorthGreenland have provisionally been referred tothe Pliocene, but in the absence of sediments,the age of this wood remains highly uncertain(Bennike, 1998, 2000).

2. Setting

IŒle de France is an elongated north^south ori-entated island o¡shore North-East Greenland, onthe inner part of the shelf between latitudes 77‡36Pand 77‡52PN, and at ca. 18‡W (Figs. 1 and 2). The

island is 30 km long and 8^11 km broad, and thecentral part of the island is occupied by an icecap. On the rest of the island numerous perennialsnow ¢elds are found, and only relatively smallareas become snow-free for a short time duringthe summer. No woody plants have been observedon the northern part of the island, but on thesouthern part, where larger snow-free areas devel-op during the summer, some tiny dwarf shrubshave been recorded. Meteorological data are notavailable for the island, but the mean July temper-ature is probably around 3^4‡C; and cold foggyweather and frost is common during the summer.The sea is covered by pack ice year round, exceptfor a polynia that borders up to the south side ofthe island. The south-£owing East Greenland cur-rent brings cold water masses from the ArcticOcean down along the East Greenland coast.The island is characterised by marine silt-richsediments overlain by till, glacio-£uvial and soli-£uction deposits. The Pliocene sediments dis-cussed here are found on the northern part ofthe island (Fig. 2).

3. Methods

The most promising sites were located from in-terpretations of aerial photographs, and in the¢eld, sections were measured and samples col-

Fig. 1. (A) Circumpolar map of the northern parts of the Earth, showing the position of IŒle de France in Greenland and othersites and successions discussed in this paper. (B) Map of North-East Greenland showing the position of IŒle de France north ofDanmarkshavn (a permanently manned weather station).

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O. Bennike et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186 (2002) 1^232

lected for analyses of foraminifers and diatoms. Inaddition, orientated samples for palaeomagneticstudies were taken, and macroscopic remains ofanimals and plants were collected. Four bulk sedi-ment samples (s 20 kg) were wet-sieved in the¢eld, using a ca. 1 mm kitchen sieve.Some wood samples were identi¢ed by their

anatomical structure as studied in tangential, ra-dial and cross sections, using a light microscope.A total of 21 samples were prepared for fora-

minifer analysis following standard procedures,and the foraminiferal tests in the 0.1^1.0 mm frac-tion were concentrated by £otation (density = 1.8;Knudsen, 1998).Samples for diatom analyses were treated with

concentrated HCl to remove calcium carbonate,washed several times with distilled water, boiledin concentrated H2O2 in order to oxidise all or-ganic matter, and washed several times with dis-tilled water. Permanent diatom preparations were

mounted in Naphrax. The diatom analyses wereundertaken with a Nikon Ecclipse 600 microscopewith U100 PlanAPO optics (bright ¢eld), usingoil immersion. Diatoms were divided into groupsaccording to their habitat and salinity preferencesand identi¢ed using the works of Hustedt (1930),Krammer and Lange-Bertalot (1986, 1988,1991a,b), Hasle and Syvertsen (1996), Metzeltinand Witkowski (1996) and Witkowski et al.(2000).Sediment samples for dino£agellate cyst (dino-

cyst) analysis were freeze-dried and processedwith standard palynological preparation methods(Mattiessen and Brenner, 1996). Concentrationswere estimated by adding tablets with a knownamount of Lycopodium clavatum spores toweighed samples (Stockmarr, 1971).A total of 32 oriented samples were collected

for determination of the geomagnetic polarity.One inch cylindrical plastic beakers were pressed

Fig. 2. Vertical aerial photograph of the northern tip of IŒle de France, showing the location of the four localities discussed. Lo-cality 1 is the type locality of the IŒle de France Formation. Route 261T, number 454, taken on 26th July 1962, reproduced withpermission from Kort- og Matrikelstyrelsen, Denmark (A.200/87).

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O. Bennike et al. / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186 (2002) 1^23 3

horizontally into vertically cleaned surfaces of theexposure, and the orientation was measured witha magnetic compass. In the laboratory, the natu-ral remanent magnetisation (NRM) was deter-mined by means of a spinner magnetometer.The directional results were con¢rmed by AF-de-magnetisation experiments at peak ¢elds of 10and 20 mT.Six bivalve shells and three brachiopod shells

were analysed for Fe, Mn, Mg and Sr concentra-tions using atom absorption techniques. Sr iso-topes were measured in dynamic multi-collectormode on a VG Sector 54 thermal ionisationmass spectrometer at the Geological Institute,

University of Copenhagen. Two NBS987 stan-dards analysed within the same time gave an aver-age value of 87Sr/86Sr = 0.710226. The mean error(2 std.) for the NBS987 87Sr/86Sr value over alonger time period was U 1.5U1035 (n=32). Wehave normalised our Sr isotope data and the Srisotope data used for the construction of the Srisotope reference curve by Farrell et al. (1995) toa NBS987 value of 87Sr/86Sr = 0.710248 to makethem directly comparable to each other.Amino acid analyses were made on eight shells

or shell fragments of Mya truncata and Arcticaislandica. The analyses were made on an auto-matic amino acid analyser at the Geological In-

Fig. 3. Sedimentological logs from localities 1 and 3. For location see Fig. 2. Sample numbers (4584xx) are also given.

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stitute in Bergen, following the preparation tech-nique described by Miller et al. (1983).

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Lithostratigraphy

The Pliocene sediments on northern IŒle deFrance are formally designated as the IŒle deFrance Formation, with the type section at local-ity 1 (Figs. 2 and 3), 3.8 km SSE of Kap Mont-pensier. The base of the formation is not exposed,and the formation is overlain by till, glacio-£uvialdeposits, and Holocene marine and littoral depos-its. No stone counts of the tills were made, butgneiss is dominant, with small amounts of doler-ite, red and yellow sandstones and quartzite.At the type locality (locality 1) the sediments

are exposed at 37^43 m above sea level(m a.s.l.)and at 57^80 m a.s.l. The lower part of the for-mation is rather heterogeneous, and consists of adiamicton, ¢ne-grained sand, homogenous mudand rhythmically interbedded silt and sand layers(Fig. 3). No organic remains were found in thispart, and it appears to have been deposited in aglacial environment.The upper part of the formation is much more

homogenous, and consists of strongly bioturbatedlight grey silt and ¢ne-grained sand with scatteredfragments of mollusc shells (Figs. 3 and 4). At thetop of the section shells and shell fragments ofmolluscs and brachiopods are common, and inaddition a few claws of decapods and rare woodfragments were found. The marine fauna indicatessub-littoral conditions and we suggest that thesediments were deposited just below storm wavebase. Fourteen samples were collected for micro-

Table 1Marine macrofossils

Sample No. 458429 458431 458434 458449 458450 458451 458471

Spirorbis sp. ^ ^ r r r r ^Decapoda indet. ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ ^Boreocingula sp. ^ ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^Trichotropis bicarinata (Sowerby, 1825) ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ Êuspira pallida (Broderip and Sowerby, 1829) ^ ^ c ^ ^ ^ ^Cryptonatica clausa (Broderip and Sowerby, 1929) r r c r ^ ^ ^Boreotophon truncatus (Stro«m, 1768) r r r ^ ^ ^ ^Boreotrophon clathratus (Linnaeus, 1758) ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ ^Neptunea sp. r r r ^ r ^ Âdmete sp. ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ Ôenopota sp. ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ ^Cylichna sp. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^Nucula jensenii (Bennike, sp. nov.) ^ ^ r r r r ^Nuculana pernula (Mu«ller, 1779) ^ ^ c c c r ^Portlandia arctica (Gray, 1824) ^ r c c c c ^Yoldiella intermedia (M. Sars, 1865) ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^ ^Yoldiella lenticula (MLller, 1842) ^ ^ ^ ^ r ^ ^Tridonta borealis Schumacher, 1817 r r a r r ^ Âstarte alaskensis Dall, 1903 ^ r r ^ ^ ^ ^Nicania montagui (Dillwyn, 1817) ^ ^ r r ^ ^ Ârctinula greenlandica (Sowerby, 1842) ^ ^ ^ r ^ r ^Clinocardium ciliatum (Fabricius, 1780) c c c c c ^ ^Serripes groenlandicus (Mohr, 1786) r ^ r ^ ^ ^ Ârctica islandica (Linnaeus, 1767) ^ r a ^ ^ ^ ^Hiatella arctica (Linnaeus, 1767) ^ ^ r ^ r ^ rMya truncata Linnaeus, 1767 f c a r r c rBryozoa indet. ^ ^ ^ r ^ ^ ^?Terebratula sp. a ^ c ^ ^ ^ a

r: rare, c: common, a: abundant, ^: absent 458429, 458431: Locality 2, 458434^51: locality 1, 458471: locality 4.

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fossil samples and three samples for macrofossilanalyses (Fig. 3) ; in addition one sample of shellswas collected from the surface of the exposure(458434), together with a few wood and barkfragments.At locality 2, where the sediments are poorly

exposed, two shell samples were collected fromthe surface of the sequence (458429, 458431; Ta-ble 1).At locality 3 a stream-cut section exposes sedi-

ments referred to the formation from 35 to 48 ma.s.l. At this site dark grey homogenous silt withthin sand layers are overlain by 2 m of indistinctlylaminated medium-grained sand with scatteredstones, and small twigs, wood and bark frag-ments. Five small bulk sediment samples werecollected from the silt for microfossil studies(458453^57, Fig. 3).At locality 4 a westward-facing 15 m high sec-

tion occurs near a stream. Two samples were col-

lected for microfossil analyses at 22 and 28 ma.s.l. (458470, 458472), from black, homogenoussilt. In addition, a sample of loose macrofossilswas collected from the surface of this section(458471). Shells of brachiopods dominate themacrofauna.

5. Biostratigraphy

5.1. Marine macrofossils

Most of this material consists of shells thatwere collected from the surface of the sediments,but three ca. 10 kg bulk sediment samples werewet-sieved in the ¢eld. Lists of taxa identi¢ed inthe samples are given in Table 1, and some se-lected taxa are shown in Fig. 5. Bivalves (14taxa) and gastropods (10 taxa) dominate the ma-rine macrofauna, but shell fragments of brachio-

Fig. 4. General views of exposures of Pliocene sediments near the northern tip of IŒle de France. The height of the sections isaround 40 m, with the top at ca. 80 m above sea level.

Fig. 5. Photographs of some macrofossils from IŒle de France. (A) Claw of decapod, MGUH 26321 from GGU 458434. (B) Tri-chotropis bicarinata (Sowerby, 1825), MGUH 26322 from GGU 458434. (C) Boreotrophon truncatus (Stro«m, 1768), MGUH26323 from GGU 458434. (D) Boreotrophon clathratus (Linnaeus, 1758), MGUH 26324 from GGU 458434. (E,F) Nucula jenseniiBennike n. sp. Holotype, MGUH 26325 from GGU 458434. (G) Nuculana pernula (Mu«ller, 1779), MGUH 26326 from GGU458434. (H) Portlandia arctica (Gray, 1824), MGUH 26327 from GGU 458434. (I) Tridonta borealis (Schumacher, 1817),MGUH 26328 from GGU 458434. (J) Nicania montagui (Dillwyn, 1817), MGUH 26329 from GGU 458434. (K) Astarte alasken-sis Dall, 1903, MGUH 26330 from GGU 458434. (L) Arctica islandica (Linnaeus, 1767), MGUH 26331 from GGU 458434. (M)Clinocardium ciliatum (Fabricius, 1780), MGUH 26332 from GGU 458434. (N) Hiatella arctica (Linnaeus, 1767), MGUH 26333from GGU 458434. (O) Mya truncata Linnaeus, 1758, MGUH 26334 from GGU 458434. (P) ?Terebratula sp., MGUH 26335from GGU 458429. MGUH numbers denote specimens housed in the type collection of the Geological Museum, Copenhagen.Scale bars: 10 mm.

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pods are also common, and in addition rare tubesof the polychaete worm Spirorbis sp. and claws ofa large crustacean were found. The fauna com-prises a mixture of infaunal and epifaunal ele-ments.

5.1.1. Notes on some taxa

5.1.1.1. Trichotropis bicarinata. As a fossil inGreenland, this distinctive gastropod has onlybeen recorded at one site from the Kap KLben-havn Formation (Bennike, 1989). Outside Green-land, fossil remains of the species are known fromLate Cenozoic deposits in Alaska (Hopkins, 1967;MacNeil et al., 1943).

5.1.1.2. Nucula jensenii Bennike sp. nov. Theshell is small and subtrigonal in outline, with along, slightly convex anterior dorsal margin anda posterior dorsal margin that is concave near thebeak. The lunula is poorly de¢ned, without trans-verse corrugations. The concentric lines are moreconspicuous than the radial ribs. The inner ven-tral margin of the shell is crenulate. The dentitionis taxodont, and consists of 20^25 anterior hingeteeth and 11^14 posterior teeth. The maximumlength is 13.5 mm and the maximum height is12.8 mm. The species is named after of JLrn BoJensen, marine geologist at the Geological Surveyof Denmark and Greenland.Nucula jansenii belong to the subgenus Lamel-

linucula Schenck, 1944, because of the combina-tion of lamellate concentric sculpture and crenu-late ventral margins (Schenck, 1944). It showssome resemblance to Nucula je¡reysi Bellardi,1875, an extinct species recorded from Neogenedeposits in southern, central and western Europe(e.g. Sorgenfrei, 1958), but the shell form is di¡er-ent. It also shows some resemblance to the extantAtlantic species Nucula sulcata Bronn, 1831, butN. jensenii lacks the transverse corrugations thatare characteristic of N. sulcata. It di¡ers in sculp-ture and shell form from another extant species,Nucula (Nucula) nucleus Linnaeus, 1758, whichwas reported from IŒle de France by S|¤monarsonet al. (1998).

5.1.1.3. Astarte alaskensis. This species was ¢rst

described on the basis of extant material from thenorthern Paci¢c by Dall (1903), but the species isalso known as a fossil in the Netherlands, of pre-sumed Early Pleistocene age (Janssen, 1981; Jans-sen and van der Slik, 1974). IŒle de France inNorth-East Greenland is situated between thesetwo regions. In Japan, the species has a long his-tory, extending back about 6 Ma (Suzuki andAkamatsu, 1994).

5.1.1.4. Arctica islandica. This species is com-mon in the upper part of the formation at locality1, but all shells are crushed, although they occurin the sediment as paired valves. Fossil Greenlandrecords of Arctica islandica are known the mid-Holocene warm period (Funder and Weidick,1991), and from the Kap KLbenhavn Formationwhere forms part of the so-called allochthonousfauna assemblage (S|¤monarson et al., 1998). A. is-landica is a boreal species, which is not known inthe extant fauna of Greenland. It currently livesalong the coast of north-eastern America andwestern Europe (Fig. 6); but there are several rec-ords from the North Paci¢c of lower and MiddlePleistocene age (e.g. Allison, 1978), and Arcticasp. has been reported from deposits on Meighen

Fig. 6. Circumpolar map showing the modern geographicalrange of Arctica islandica (according to Dahlgren et al.,2000), and selected ocean surface currents.

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Island and from the Hvitland Beds, both of Plio-cene age (Fyles et al., 1991, 1998). Arctica sp. isalso reported from Pliocene deposits in Alaska(Kaufman et al., 1993), although it is not knownfrom the Gubik Formation (Brigham-Grette andCarter, 1992). A. islandica is also well knownfrom Pliocene deposits in North-West Europe(Gladenkov et al., 1980; Heering, 1950; Spaink,1975).

5.1.1.5. ?Terebratula. Shell fragments of bra-chiopods were found to be very common on thesurface of the IŒle de France Formation, at locality1 and 3, and at the latter site it was noted that onecould collect several kilograms of fragments overof short time. The fragments come from a specieswith thick, smooth shells that are yellow brown incolour. The shells are very similar to materialfrom the Kap KLbenhavn Formation (S|¤monar-son et al., 1998), and they probably come from anundescribed species of Terebratulida.

5.2. Foraminifers

The results of the foraminiferal analyses aregiven in Fig. 7; the nomenclature follows Fey-ling-Hanssen (1990). Only benthic foraminiferswere found. Most samples also contained smallpieces of lignite and plant fragments, indicating£uvial transportation to the area and depositionclose to land. The concentration of foraminifers inthree samples from locality 1a was low and var-ied, between 10 and 30 tests per 100 g sediment.Preservation was poor, and many tests had bro-ken chambers, indicating transportation prior tosedimentation, or reworking. The assemblages aredominated by Cassidulina reniforme and Elphidi-um excavatum, which indicate deposition in a coldenvironment at water depths of probably less than20 m. At locality 1b, decreasing concentrations offoraminifers occur upwards in the formation,from 1500 tests per 100 g sediment in the lowerpart, to six tests per 100 g sediment in the upperpart. The faunas are dominated by E. excavatum,Bucella frigida, C. reniforme and Nonion spp. Inthe upper part, many of the tests have corrodedsurfaces as a result of transportation, whereas thepreservation is better in the lower part. The fora-

miniferal assemblages are indicative of a cold en-vironment. The assemblages from samples 458439to 458441 point to a palaeo-water depth ofaround 15^20 m, whereas the assemblages fromsamples 458438 and 458442 indicate a palaeo-water depth of less than 10 m.At locality 3, the concentration of tests was 100

to 200 per 100 g sediment. The fossil assemblagesshow a resemblance to those from the lower partof the formation at locality 1b, but the speciesBucella frigida, Elphidium albiumbilicatum, Nonionmachigaricus, Nonion niveum and Triloculina ob-longa are more common. This could re£ectslightly shallower waters.At locality 4, the fossil assemblages are dis-

tinctly di¡erent from those at both localities 1and 3, as is the sediment: black homogenoussilt. This could indicate deposition in a more shel-tered environment, but it is also possible that thesediments are somewhat di¡erent in age. Twosamples from locality 4 were examined, the lowerof which is dominated by Glabratella wrightii, Ro-salina williamsoni and Rosalina miletti. These ses-sile species indicate water in motion, which is inagreement with the common occurrence of re-worked Palaeogene or Miocene specimens in thissample. The presence of these specimens indicatethat older Tertiary sediments were present in theregion during deposition of the sediments. In thiscontext it can be noted that in wells north ofNorway the fauna in sediments assigned to theLate Pliocene often includes reworked foramini-fers of Oligocene to Early Miocene age, whichwere transported to the site during erosion ofthe Barents Shelf region (Eidvin et al., 1993).The upper sample from locality 4 is characterisedby a much higher concentration of tests (11 000per 100 g sediment) than any of the other ana-lysed samples. This could re£ect a low rate ofaccumulation of mineral grains. The assemblagesfrom locality 4 indicate fairly deep waters, per-haps 30^50 m.

5.3. Dino£agellate cysts

Dinocysts have been analysed in 21 samplesfrom localities 1a, 1b, 3 and 4a. Only one sample(458470) from locality 4a was completely barren.

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222322063_Chronology_of_Tertiary_fan_deposits_off_the_western_Barents_Sea_Implications_for_the_uplift_and_erosion_history_of_the_Barents_Shelf?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-7590a3e1-d194-4413-9e87-10fd71b3a462&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI2ODIxMjAxMDtBUzoxNjMwMTI5NjcxNDU0NzJAMTQxNTg3NjcyODI4MA==

The nomenclature and taxonomy of dino£agellatecysts (Table 2) basically follows that of Williamset al. (1998) and Rochon et al. (1999). Brigante-dinium spp. here includes all spherical brown pro-toperidinioid cysts without processes because ori-entation of specimens did not usually permitidenti¢cation to species level. Lejeunecysta spp.,Operculodinium spp., Selenopemphix spp. and Spi-niferites spp. include specimens of the respectivegenus that could not be di¡erentiated, partly be-cause of poor preservation. Protoperidinium spp.comprises di¡erent morphotypes of protoperidi-

nioid a⁄nity. Morphotypes bearing numerousprocesses dominate, while only few specimenswith smooth surfaces were found. The category‘dinocysts indeterminable’ contains all autochtho-nous cysts that were not identi¢ed. Protoperidi-niod dinocysts that are sensitive to aerobic decay(e.g. Head, 1998; Zonneveld et al., 2001) arepresent, sometimes dominant, in all samples sug-gesting that post-depositional oxidation did notalter the assemblages. This indicates that largescale reworking of sediments and cysts, whichmay a¡ect shallow water environments, can be

Table 2Dinocysts and other palynomorphs counted

Full names of dinocyst taxa: Brigantedinium Reid, 1977; Brigantedinium cariacoense (Wall, 1967) Reid, 1977; Brigantedinium sim-plex (Wall, 1965) Reid, 1977; Filisphaera ¢lifera (Bujak, 1984) emend. Head in Head, 1994; Filisphaera ¢lifera ¢lifera (Bujak,1984) emend. Head in Head, 1994; Filisphaera ¢lifera pilosa (Matsuoka and Bujak, 1988) Head in Head, 1994; Filisphaera micro-rnata (Head et al., 1989) Head, 1994; Lejeunecysta Artzner and Do«rho«fer, 1978; Lejeunecysta communis Bi⁄ and Grignani,1983; Operculodininium Wall, 1967; Protoperidinium Bergh, 1881; Selenopemphix Benedek, 1972 emend. Head, 1993; Selenopem-phix dionaeacysta Head et al., 1989; Selenopemphix nephroides Benedek, 1992 emend. Bujak in Bujak et al., 1980; SpiniferitesMantell, 1850; Trinovantedinium glorianum Head et al., 1989.

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excluded. Low numbers of dinocysts were foundin most samples because of a strong dilution byparticulate organic matter of terrestrial origin(Table 2). Samples from locality 1b are apparentlythe most productive and contain the highest ab-solute abundances of dinocysts. Most samplesalso contained specimens of the freshwater greenalgae Pediastrum and Botryococcus, as well as ma-rine acritarchs (Halodinium sp., Sigmopollis spp.,Cymatiosphaera sp.).Although the numbers of dinocysts are low,

and relative abundances were therefore not calcu-lated, most samples are characterised by abundantto dominant Brigantedinium spp. and Filisphaeraspp. (F. ¢lifera, F. microornata). Some samplesadditionally contain abundant Protoperidiniumspp.Undi¡erentiated specimens of the genus Brigan-

tedinium occur at least from the Early Miocene tothe Recent (e.g. Mudie, 1989; Head et al.,1989a,b; McCarthy and Mudie, 1996; Poulsenet al., 1996). This genus has a cosmopolitan dis-tribution (Wall et al., 1977; Dale, 1996). The onlyspecies of Brigantedinium which were unequivo-

cally identi¢ed are B. cariacoense and B. simplex.The former is a tropical to subpolar species (Dale,1996) and occurs ¢rst in the Middle Miocene (deVerteuil, 1996). Brigantedinium simplex is a polarto cold-temperate species (Dale, 1996) and has itslowest stratigraphic occurrence in upper Miocenesediments of Japan, and possibly of the northernNorth Paci¢c (Bujak, 1984; Matsuoka et al.,1987). It is more widespread in Pliocene to mod-ern sediments from the northern North Atlanticand the eastern Arctic Ocean (e.g. Harland, 1992;Mudie, 1986, 1989; de Vernal and Mudie, 1989;Mattiessen and Brenner, 1996; Mudie, 1986;Poulsen et al., 1996).Filisphaera ¢lifera ¢lifera is the common taxon

of Filisphaera spp. in the IŒle de France Forma-tion, while F. ¢lifera pilosa and F. microornataare regularly present only in samples from locality1. Accurate stratigraphic ranges cannot be de¢nedfor the individual taxa because they are distin-guished by minute di¡erences in the height ofthe periphragm and the diameter of microreticu-lation (Head, 1994). These taxa are thereforeoften assigned to F. ¢lifera s.l. (Mattiessen and

Fig. 7. Range chart of foraminiferal taxa. The percentage distribution for foraminifers with more than 100 counted specimensfrom one sample is shown by symbols. For samples with less than 100 counted specimens the actual numbers are given.

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248258894_The_environmental_and_climatic_distribution_of_dinoflagellate_cysts_in_Modern_marine_sediments_from_regions_in_the_North_and_South_Atlantic_Oceans_and_adjacent_seas?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-7590a3e1-d194-4413-9e87-10fd71b3a462&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI2ODIxMjAxMDtBUzoxNjMwMTI5NjcxNDU0NzJAMTQxNTg3NjcyODI4MA==

Brenner, 1996; Smelror, 1999), and it can be as-sumed that they were previously collectively re-ported under F. ¢lifera. Head (1994) and Mudieand Harland (1996) have compiled the strati-graphic ranges, and shown that F. ¢lifera prob-ably had its ¢rst appearance in the upper Oligo-cene and that all taxa disappeared in the MiddlePleistocene at the base of the Brunhes Chron.However, Smelror (1999) reported the last occur-rence of F. ¢lifera at the western Svalbard margin(ODP Leg 162 Hole 986C) in Middle Pleistocenesediments which are younger than 0.46 Ma. Incontrast, Mattiessen and Brenner (1996) observedthe last occurrence at the northern Svalbard mar-gin (ODP Leg 151 Hole 911A) before the Jaramil-lo Chron (ca. 1 Ma) and Channell et al. (1999) atEast Greenland o¡ Scoresby Sund (Leg 162 Site987) before the Olduvai Chron (ca. 2 Ma).Filisphaera ¢lifera is widespread in Pliocene and

lower Pleistocene sediments of the North AtlanticOcean north of 40‡N, but it is only abundant inhigh northern latitude sediments from the BeringSea, Arctic Ocean, Nordic Seas and Labrador Sea(de Vernal and Mudie, 1989; Mudie, 1986, 1989;Head, 1994; Versteegh, 1997; Mattiessen andBrenner, 1996; McCarthy and Mudie, 1996; Mu-die and Harland, 1996; Smelror, 1999). Head(1996) suggested that it is a cold-tolerant species.A number of protoperidinioid taxa are rare in

the samples. Lejeunecysta communis was ¢rst de-scribed from the Oligocene of the Niger Delta(Bi⁄ and Grignani, 1983) and has been rarelyrecorded in high northern latitudes. Poorly pre-served specimens are rare in upper Pliocene/Pleis-tocene sediments o¡ the Iberian Peninsula (ODPLeg 149 Hole 898A) and have their last occur-rence around 1 Ma (McCarthy and Mudie,1996). In southeast England, it is generally rarein Pliocene sediments and disappears in the Ma-tuyama Chron at around 2.2^2.3 Ma (Harland,1992; Harland et al., 1991). Lejeunecysta commu-nis is rare to abundant in upper Pliocene sedi-ments from the northern Svalbard margin (ODPLeg 151 Hole 911A) and disappears after chronC2An.1n around 2.5 Ma (Mattiessen and Bren-ner, 1996). This species is often associated withabundant spherical brown protoperidinioid cysts(Harland et al., 1991; Mattiessen and Brenner,

1996). In southeast England, L. communis occursduring cool to temperate climate conditions(Head, 1998), whereas on the Yermak Plateau itis particularly abundant in assemblages whichhave low abundances of temperate taxa (Matties-sen and Brenner, 1996).Selenopemphix nephroides has an accepted

stratigraphic range from the middle Eocene tothe Recent (Head, 1993; Rochon et al., 1999)and occurs today in subpolar to tropical regions(Dale, 1996). Selenopemphix dionaeacysta andTrinovantedinium glorianum have a stratigraphicrange from the upper Oligocene and Middle Mio-cene, respectively to the upper Pliocene or lowerPleistocene (Head, 1993, 1996). Their geographi-cal distribution suggest that they prefer cool totemperate conditions.

5.4. Diatoms

Diatom analyses were undertaken on 18 sam-ples. Because the frequency of diatom valves waslow to very low, the abundance of valves wasclassi¢ed as common, rare or very rare. Amongstthe samples analysed, two (458437 and 458470)were completely barren. In ¢ve samples (458435,458436, 458439, 458457, 458472) diatoms wereonly sporadically encountered, and the few valvespresent belonged exclusively to freshwater, plank-tonic taxa: Aulacoseira islandica, Asterionella for-mosa and Stephanodiscus spp.The remaining 11 samples contained poorly to

moderately well-preserved diatom assemblages ofmixed halobous preferences. In seven samples ma-rine and brackish-water taxa predominated, withfreshwater taxa constituting a minor proportion.In four other samples, freshwater forms dominat-ed the assemblages. In general, the frequency ofdiatom valves were too low to construct a diatomdiagram, and only sample 458447 contained aricher £ora, which allowed a sum of over 300diatom valves to be reached. In the other samplesthe number of diatom valves counted varied be-tween 100 and 200. A high degree of fragmenta-tion of the valves made identi¢cations at the spe-cies level di⁄cult, and sometimes impossible. Thiswas in particular the case with taxa belonging tothe genus Thalassionema. A total of 99 taxa be-

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longing in 48 genera were identi¢ed of which 32taxa representing 17 genera were centric, and 67taxa from 31 genera were pennate.Samples 458442 to 458448 from locality 1b con-

tained the most diverse £ora. The highest numberof taxa occurred in samples 458443, 458446 and458447. With respect to the habitat, the mostabundant were marine planktonic taxa repre-sented by resting spores of unidenti¢ed represen-tatives of the genus Chaetoceros. They constitutedup to 50% of the total counts. Less abundant(up to 5%) were Stephanopyxix turris, Detonulaconfervacea, Fragilariopsis cylindrus and unde-termined representatives of the genus Actinocy-clus. The remaining taxa were usually representedby a few specimens representing benthic andplanktonic forms. Of interest is the presence ofthe recently described marine diatom speciesFossula arctica which is associated with sea iceand so far has only been reported from the Arctic(Hasle et al., 1996; Witkowski et al., 2000). Withrespect to the biogeography, most of the taxacan be classi¢ed as widely distributed and cosmo-politan. Some, such as Odontella aurita, Paraliasulcata, Cocconeis costata, Diploneis smithii andFragilariopsis cylindrus, have bipolar distribu-tions.The samples from locality 1b also contain com-

mon valves of planktonic, freshwater taxa, withAulacoseira islandica (up to 13%) and Asterionellaformosa (up to 7%). Samples 458438 to 458441and 458456 contained predominantly planktonic,freshwater diatoms with a minor proportion ofmarine taxa. The frequency of diatoms in thesesamples was low. The dominating species wereA. islandica (up to 50%) and A. formosa (up to35%). The number of remaining freshwater taxawas low. Included in this group were both plank-tonic (e.g. Aulacoseira valida, A. granulata var.angustissima and Stephanodiscus spp.) and benthictaxa (e.g. Achnanthes clevei, Amphora pediculus,Fragilaria martyi, F. capucina var. vaucheriae,Gomphonema parvulum, Navicula cryptocephalaand N. cryptotenella). Much less frequent in thesesamples were marine planktonic and benthic taxa,which were usually represented by a few valvesonly. This group includes resting spores of Chae-toceros spp. and valves of Diploneis smithii, Pla-

nothidium delicatulum, Synedra fasciculata, Cocco-neis costata and C. pinnata.In addition to diatoms, the material also com-

prised some other siliceous microfossils, namelychrysophycean stomatocysts (Dictyocha speculu-lum) and Ebriales indet. These fossils were foundin samples 458446 and 458445, respectively.

5.5. Non-marine macrofossils

As mentioned above, wood fragments were ob-served at locality 3, and to obtain more materialaround 60 kg of sediment from this site was wet-sieved in the ¢eld. In addition to numerous small,abraded wood and twig fragments, this samplecontained a few seeds: one of the pondweed Po-tamogeton ¢liformis (Potamogetonaceae), two ofthe semi-aquatic plant Menyanthes trifoliata (Me-nyanthaceae) and ¢ve of the spruce Picea cf. ma-riana (Pinaceae). A few other plant remains werealso present: some fungal sclerotia of the soil fun-gus Cenococcum geophilum Fries (Fungi imperfec-ti), one cone scale of a Pinaceae and some wornleafy stem fragments of the bryophyte family Am-blystegiaceae.The three largest wood fragments found mea-

sured 60U3 cm, 25U5U1 cm and 20U6U4 cm.The slight curvature of the growth rings of someof these indicate that they come from rather largetrees, rather than scrubs. Eleven samples of woodwere well-enough preserved to be identi¢ed. Eightwere identi¢ed as Picea sp. (or possibly Larix sp.)and three as Thuja sp. All three genera are repre-sented in the Kap KLbenhavn £ora (Bennike,1990), and they have also been reported from?Pliocene occurrences of redeposited wood inwestern North Greenland (Bennike, 1998), as wellas from Pliocene sites in Arctic Canada (Mat-thews and Ovenden, 1990).

6. Palaeoecology

The rare occurrence of Picea seeds and woodfragments of Picea/Larix and Thuja suggest thepresence of boreal forest or forest-tundra in theregion, and a mean summer temperature above10‡C, which is at least 6‡C higher than at the

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present. Potamogeton ¢liformis, Menyanthes trifo-liata and Amblystegiaceae indicate lakes, pondsand mires in the area.The mollusc and foraminiferal assemblages

from the IŒle de France Formation show that thesediments were deposited in a sub-littoral environ-ment, on the inner shelf. No littoral or intertidaltaxa have been found, whereas Yoldiella indicateso¡shore waters, in agreement with the texture ofthe sediment that indicates deposition belowstorm wave base. The mixture of boreal and arcticspecies, such as Arctica islandica and Portlandiaarctica, indicates that the water temperatures atthe sea bottom were considerably higher than atthe present. Overall, the faunas indicate normalsalinity. Astarte spp. are currently most commonat the outer coast, and rare in the inner fjords,apparently because these bivalves cannot copewith freshwater shocks (Funder, 1978; Ockel-mann, 1958). However, the occurrence of lignite,plant fragments, freshwater diatoms and green al-gae does indicate some in£uence from rivers.A detailed interpretation of the palaeoenviron-

mental conditions based on dinocysts is di⁄cult

because of the high abundances of the extinct Fili-sphaera ¢lifera s.l. and the cosmopolitan Brigan-tedinium spp., as well as abundant specimens ofundescribed Protoperidinium species in some sam-ples from localities 1b and 3. Despite these limi-tations, the composition of the assemblages canbe used to tentatively interpret the palaeoenviron-mental conditions. Assemblages that are charac-terised by high abundances of the cold-tolerantF. ¢lifera s.l. and of Brigantedinium spp. are onlyknown from upper Pliocene and lower Pleistoceneglaciomarine sediments of the northern high lat-itudes (e.g. Mudie, 1989; Mattiessen and Brenner,1996; Head, 1996; Smelror, 1999). Moreover,high abundances of Brigantedinium spp. in the as-semblages from East Greenland are related to alow number of other taxa, in particular protoper-idinioid species. Assemblages which are dominat-ed by Brigantedinium spp. and which have a lownumber of other protoperidinioid species charac-terise polar to subpolar environments rather thantemperate environments (Mattiessen and Brenner,1996). Taxa such as Operculodinium centrocarpumand Nematosphaeropsis labyrinthus, which indi-

Table 3AIle/Ile ratios in the total hydrolysate (HYD) and free fraction

Loc.No.

SampleNo.

N. lat. W. long. Lab. No. Species Height HYD HYDmean

FREE FREEmean(m a.s.l.)

37 458434 77‡49.9P 17‡33P BAL 3470A Mya truncata 75 0.208 0.9550.203 0.206 0.917

0.946 0.939458434 BAL 3470B Mya truncata 0.228 0.977

0.232 0.230 0.974 0.976458434 BAL 3471A Arctica islandica 0.220 0.945

0.212 0.216 0.957 0.951458434 BAL 3471B Arctica islandica 0.234 0.873

0.232 0.233 0.9080.871 0.884

37b 458450 77‡49.9P 17‡33P BAL 3472A Mya truncata 70 0.253 1.0160.260 0.257 0.984


0.206 0.206 0.905 0.91137b 458451 77‡49.9P 17‡33P BAL 3473A Mya truncata 75 0.217 1.008

0.213 0.9370.209 0.213 0.958


0.182 0.186 0.9010.911 0.916

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cate in£uence of relatively warm waters and whichoccur in upper Pliocene and lower Pleistocenesediments at the Svalbard margin (Mattiessenand Brenner, 1996; Smelror, 1999), are absent inEast Greenland. These observations suggest thatcold environmental conditions prevailed duringdeposition of the IŒle de France Formation. Thepredominance of Brigantedinium spp. in assem-blages with a low number of protoperidinioid spe-cies and other warmth-tolerant species may beindicative of seasonal sea ice cover (Mattiessenand Brenner, 1996). Since protoperidinioid speciesare generally assumed to be cysts of heterotrophicdino£agellates, their dominance may re£ect theavailability of suitable prey such as diatoms (e.g.Brigantedinium spp. is particularly abundant inenvironments such as coastal upwelling regions,marginal ice zones or polynyas (e.g. Wall et al.,1977; Dale, 1996; Rochon et al., 1999). There-fore, the assemblages may indicate some £uctua-tions in productivity during the Late Pliocene.

7. Geochronology

7.1. Amino acid epimerisation

The degree of epimerisation has been widelyused as a chronological tool in the Arctic, in de-posits going back to the Neogene. However, therate of epimerisation is highly dependent on thetemperature history after the molluscs died. Veryhigh ratios were obtained in this study (Table 3),which support a Pliocene age (see below). Com-

parisons with other sites in Greenland with earlyQuaternary or Plio^Pleistocene sediments arehampered because di¡erent species have beenused in di¡erent studies, and the results are thusnot directly comparable. However, broadly speak-ing the ratios from IŒle de France are somewhathigher than reported from the Kap KLbenhavnFormation, and somewhat lower than reportedfrom the Lodin Elv Formation and the Pattor¢kbeds (Feyling-Hanssen et al., 1983; Funder andS|¤monarson, 1984; S|¤monarson et al., 1998).If it is assumed that the IŒle de France Forma-

tion is ca. 3 Myr old, the amino acid data wouldindicate an e¡ective diagenetic temperature ofaround 313‡C, using the Arrhenius parametersgiven by Miller (1985). This is probably similarto the modern day mean annual air temperatureon the island, which could indicate that the suc-cession has been situated above sea level for muchof the time that has elapsed after it was deposited.However, during the Quaternary glacial stages,the mean temperature was much lower than today(Johnsen et al., 1995). Thus it is possible that thesuccession was lifted above sea level quite sometime after it was formed.

7.2. Strontium isotopes

Strontium isotopes have previously been usedas a dating tool for Tertiary deposits and as atracer for marine surface waters (Ingram andSloan, 1992; Israelson and Buchardt, 1999; Fun-der et al., 2001). Concentrations of Sr, Fe and Mnfor the studied bivalve shells (Table 4) are similar

Table 4Concentrations of Fe, Mn, Mg and Sr in shells of brachiopods and bivalves

Sample Taxon Fe Mn Mg Sr(ppm) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm)

2401 Brachiopod 518 48 850 8372402 Brachiopod 119 43 588 8342403 Brachiopod 363 39 663 8342404 Arctica islandica 200 14 124 19752405 Arctica islandica 131 16 136 27372406 Arctica islandica 121 14 147 26752407 Mya truncata 126 18 104 24252408 Mya truncata 149 18 171 24252409 Mya truncata 209 16 114 2525

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to those found in modern shells (Milliman, 1994);there is thus, in these data, no sign of diageneticuptake of these elements. This indicates that the87Sr/86Sr ratio in the fossil bivalve shells is origi-nal. The Sr isotope ages were calculated using theseawater reference curve from Farrell et al. (1995)(Table 5). All data are corrected to a NBS987value of 0.710248 to make them directly compa-rable to each other. Farrell et al. (1995) have con-structed a reference curve based on Sr isotopevalues of Foraminifera samples from seven well-dated deep sea cores which cover the time intervalfrom 0 to 6 Ma. The data ¢ts a ¢fth-order poly-nomial equation which enable age determinationof marine carbonate samples with known 87Sr/86Sr values. In Table 5, Sr isotope ages havebeen calculated using the 87Sr/86Sr vs. age equa-tion. Plus and minus errors include U 19U1036

from the ¢fth-order ¢t of the reference curveand U 15U1036 uncertainties on measured sam-ples from this study. Plus and minus uncertaintiesare not always the same due to the non-linearnature of the Sr isotope reference curve. It isseen from Table 5 that Sr isotope ages between1.3 and 5.2 Ma were obtained, with an averageage of the eight samples analysed of 3.4 Ma.Bivalve shells from the Kap KLbenhavn For-

mation have been analysed for strontium isotoperatios (Funder et al., 2001). Most shells had 87Sr/86Sr ratios higher than present day seawater, in-dicating in£uence from river water. The lowestvalues measured correspond to a Sr isotope ageof 1.75+1.6^0.7 Ma. This imprecise age is consid-

ered a minimum age, also due to in£uence byriver water.

7.3. Palaeomagnetic studies

The main conclusion of the palaeomagneticstudies is that the sampled interval was depositedduring a period of normal polarity (Fig. 8). Incombination with the Sr results, a correlationwith the Gauss normal polarity chron appearsthe most likely option. This chron is dated tobetween 2.60 and 3.58 Ma years BP (Fig. 9), ac-cording to the magnetic polarity time scale (Ogg,1995). There is a major di¡erence in the palaeo-magnetic signal between the lower and upper partof the sequence, which re£ects the major sedimen-tological di¡erences. This may mean that there isa time gap between them.

7.4. Occurrence of Paci¢c immigrants

The molluscs from IŒle de France comprise sev-eral species, such as Trichotropis bicarinata, Bo-reotrophon spp., Clinocardium ciliatum, Serripesgroenlandicus and Mya truncata that are consid-ered immigrants to the North Atlantic Oceanfrom the Paci¢c Ocean following the opening ofthe Bering Strait (Durham and MacNeil, 1967).The ¢rst opening is usually dated to around3 Ma ago(Gladenkov, 1979), but evidence for anearlier initial opening between 4.8 and 5.5 Ma agowas reported by Marincovich and Gladenkov(1999). However, North Paci¢c molluscs did not

Table 5Sr isotope results of bivalves and brachiopods

Sample Taxon 87Sr/86Sr Correction to 0.710248 Sr agea + 3

(Ma)

2401 Brachiopod 0.70906 0.70904 5.2 0.7 2.32402 Brachiopod 0.70906 0.70904 5.2 0.7 2.32403 Brachiopod 0.70907 0.70904 5.1 0.7 2.42404 Arctica islandica 0.70914 0.70912 1.5 0.9 0.62406 Arctica islandica 0.70909 0.70907 4.0 1.3 2.22407 Mya truncata 0.70915 0.70913 1.3 0.7 0.62408 Mya truncata 0.70912 0.70910 2.0 2.4 0.72408 Mya truncata 0.70910 0.70908 2.5 2.5 1.087Sr/86Sr are shown both as measured directly and after correction to a NBS987 value of 0.710248.

a For calculation of the Sr ages, see text.

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appear in the North Atlantic until 3.6 Ma ago(Marincovich, 2000).

7.5. Foraminifers

The foraminiferal assemblages from the IŒle deFrance Formation show a resemblance with thosedescribed from the Hvitland Beds of EllesmereIsland (Fyles et al., 1998), and with the assem-blages from the Elphidium funderi Zone of theKap KLbenhavn Formation (Feyling-Hanssen,1990). Especially noteworthy is the presence ofthe species Cibicides grossus and E. funderi thatare considered characteristic for Late Pliocene de-posits (Feyling-Hanssen 1990). Several samplescomprise Elphidium ustulatum, which also occurs

Fig. 9. Geomagnetic polarity time scale (Ogg, 1995). Blackand white areas indicate periods of normal and reversed po-larity respectively.

Fig. 8. Magnetic inclination (NMR, 10 and 20 mT) plottedagainst elevation. The samples were collected at locality 1(Fig. 3). All samples show normal geomagnetic polarity. Themoderately shallow inclination values around 40 m (as com-pared to an axial dipole inclination around 84‡) may be dueeither to compaction of the sediment or to a slight rotationafter deposition.

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in the Kap KLbenhavn Formation, in layers re-ferred to the latest Pliocene. The species Elphidiel-la hannai is characteristic of the Pliocene^Pleisto-cene transition in the southern North Sea (King,1989; v. Voorthuysen, 1950). A single specimen ofElphidiella gorbunovi was found in sample 458446.This species is characteristic of Early Pleistocenedeposits in the North Sea (Pedersen, 1995), but italso occurs in the Hvitland Beds, together withC. grossus.

7.6. Dino£agellate cysts

The stratigraphic ranges of the recorded dino-cysts in northern high latitudes are not su⁄cientlywell known to assess accurate ages for the sedi-ments. This is mainly due to a limited number ofdetailed dinocyst records from Pliocene/Pleisto-cene sediments that have a well-established chro-nostratigraphy based on magnetostratigraphy andother microfossil groups. Therefore, the occur-rence of Filisphaera ¢lifera, Lejeunecysta commu-nis, Selenopemphix dionaeacysta and Trinovantedi-nium glorianum only indicates that the sedimentsare not younger than uppermost Pliocene to lowerPleistocene. A possibly synchronous acme ofF. ¢lifera s.l. was previously recognised in upperPliocene sediments from the western and northernSvalbard margin (Mattiessen and Brenner, 1996)suggesting that a Late Pliocene age for the IŒle deFrance Formation is likely.

8. Correlations

Within Greenland, the macroscopical faunasshow similarity to that of the so-called allochtho-nous fauna assemblage of the Kap KLbenhavnFormation (S|¤monarson et al., 1998), especiallyby the common occurrence of Arctica islandicaand ?Terebratula. The geochronological resultsand the molluscan faunas indicate that the IŒlede France Formation is older than member B ofthe Kap KLbenhavn Formation, which was de-posited during a period of reversed polarity(Abrahamsen and Marcussen, 1986). The IŒle deFrance Formation is also older than the LodinElv Formation of central East Greenland (Fey-

ling-Hanssen et al., 1983) and the Pattor¢k bedsin West Greenland (Funder and S|¤monarson,1984; S|¤monarson, 1981). Wood recovered fromwestern North Greenland (Bennike, 1998) has asuggested Pliocene age, and could thus correlatewith the IŒle de France Formation.In high Arctic Canada, several sedimentary se-

quences are found that can be compared with theIŒle de France Formation. Thus the major part ofthe Beaufort Formation is dated to the Pliocene,but comparison is hampered because most evi-dence from Canada relates to terrestrial biotas,with little evidence of marine biotas. Exceptionsare provided by the Meighen Beds and the Hvit-land Beds (Fyles et al., 1991, 1998; Matthews andOvenden, 1990). The bivalve Arctica is commonto both successions, but the Meighen beds aredated to around 3 Ma, and the Hvitland Bedsto around 2.5 Ma. The Meighen Beds contain aterrestrial £ora that represents a mixture of Arcticand boreal species, whereas the Hvitland Bedsonly contain remains of Arctic plants.In Alaska, the Gubik Formation appears to be

somewhat younger than the IŒle de France Forma-tion, but Trichotropis bicarinata is found in both.The oldest part of the Gubik Formation, the Col-villian transgression, is estimated to be 2.7^2.5Ma old, and the following Bigbendian transgres-sion is dated to ca. 2.5 Ma (Brigham-Grette andCarter, 1992). Early to Middle Pliocene marineshelf deposits are known from the Europeanpart of Russia (Zarkhidze and Samoilovich,1989; Yakhimovich et al., 1990) and the Kolvinskinterval is dated to the Gilbert and Gauss Chrons(Yakhimovich et al., 1990). The fauna comprisesthe foraminifer Cibicides grossus, and the molluscfaunas show some similarity to that from IŒle deFrance (Shantser, 1982; Zarkhidze, 1983). Thusspecies like Portlandia arctica, Yoldiella lenticula,Tridonta borealis, Clinocardium ciliatum, Serripesgroenlandicus and Arctica islandica are found inboth. The mollusc fauna from IŒle de Franceshows some similarities to the Serripes Zone ofthe Tjo«rnes Beds of northern Iceland, which isprobably of Late Pliocene age (Cronin et al.,1993). Noteworthy is the presence of T. borealis,Nicania montagui and C. ciliatum in both (Gla-denkov et al., 1980), species that have not been

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reported from Pliocene beds in the North Searegion. The IŒle de France Formation may betime equivalent to the Reuverian of the NorthSea area, although the mollusc fauna of the latterincludes a number of extinct taxa not seen on IŒlede France. Deposits on Ba⁄n Island in the east-ern Canadian Arctic with C. grossus may also, inpart, correlate with the IŒle de France Formation(Feyling-Hanssen, 1985).

9. Discussion and conclusions

One of the notable features of the mollusc fau-na from IŒle de France is its modern aspect. If thedating, which is mainly based on studies of Srisotopes and palaeomagnetism, is accepted, thenthe sequence should correlate with deposits re-ferred to the Late Pliocene in the North Atlanticand North Paci¢c regions. These deposits com-prise 20^30% extinct mollusc species (Norton,1975; Gladenkov, 1979). However, IŒle de Franceis situated much further north than these deposits,and it is possible that the geographical range ofthe extinct species did not extend this far north.The occurrence of thermophilous molluscs

shows that the temperatures of the seawaterwould be too high for perennial sea ice, andspruce and thuja trees show that air temperatureswere substantially higher than at present. How-ever, seasonal sea ice is indicated by both diatomsand dinocysts. Studies of a number of Pliocenesites that border on the Arctic Ocean have alsopointed to seasonal absence of sea ice (Cronin etal., 1993), as have studies of sediment cores raisedfrom the Arctic Ocean itself (e.g. Scott et al.,1989). The Pliocene high latitude warmth mayhave been caused by an intensi¢ed North AtlanticDrift that could bring warm water from equato-rial regions northwards (e.g. Edwards et al., 1991;Haywood et al., 2000). Even if the East Green-land Current was active, it would not bring reallycold water south, since the Arctic Ocean was thenrelatively warm. North Atlantic water is atpresent found along North-East Greenland belowa layer of cold, low-salinity water. This layer musthave been much thinner during the Pliocene thanat the present, and characterised by higher tem-

peratures. Some climate model studies have indi-cated that changes in ocean circulation cannotexplain the enhanced Pliocene warmth, and ithas been suggested that higher concentrations ofatmospheric CO2 may have been the cause (Crow-ley, 1991). However, estimates of Pliocene atmo-spheric CO2 based on stomatal parameters of fos-sil leaves suggest only a slight increase (Ku«rschneret al., 1996). Thus enhanced thermohaline circu-lation was probably the main reason for the re-duced equator-to-pole temperature gradient dur-ing the Pliocene.Several of the mollusc species reported here ap-

pear to have their oldest known records on IŒle deFrance. This applies for instance to Portlandiaarctica, Yoldiella intermedia and Yoldiella lenticu-la. This probably re£ects the fact that only fewhigh latitude Pliocene sites have so far beenstudied.

Acknowledgements

The Commission for Scienti¢c Research inGreenland funded the ¢eld work, and the DanishPolar Center, represented by T.I. Hauge Anders-son, established the logistic platform for the ¢eldwork. Peter Friis MLller was an excellent ¢eldassistant. Amino acid analyses were done at theGeological Institute, University of Bergen, underthe supervision of Hans Petter Sejrup. AndersWare¤n, Stockholm, and Winfried Hinsch, Kiel,kindly helped with mollusc identi¢cations, andTony Higgins, GEUS, corrected the Englishtext. Journal referees Svend Funder in Copenha-gen and Julie Brigham-Grette in Amherst arethanked for their helpful comments.

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