DINOFLAGELLATE CYSTS FROM THE GLACIAL POSTGLACIAL TRANSITION IN THE NORTHEAST ATLANTIC-OCEAN

High-resolution dinoflagellate cyst analysis of two DSDP holes and two British Geological Survey cores, from the drift ridges on the south-western and south-eastern flanks of the Rockall Plateau and the continental slope off western Scotland respectively, has yielded detailed cyst spectra across the glacial/postglacial transition. These spectra illustrate clearly the substantial climatic and palaeoceanographic changes that have accompanied deglaciation over the last 13 Ka and the enigmatic short-term return to the cooler conditions of the Younger Dryas. The dinoflagellate cyst assemblages have undergone changes both in species composition and in the numbers of cysts per gram recovered but show consistent and repeatable evidence of fluctuations within the dinoflagellate cyst floras. Comparisons are made with earlier studies and with recently published work from the Norwegian Sea, which together indicate substantial detail within the Holocene climatic record, and are interpreted as representing considerable oceanographic variability throughout the last 10 Ka.