Identification of the Holocene-Pleistocene boundary in the Bering Sea by diatoms.

The modern diatom flora from surface sediment of the Navarin Basin region of the Bering Sea is dominated by Denticulopsis seminae and Nitzschia oceanica. D. seminae, a north boreal species, is most abundant in the deeper waters of the slope-basin regions, whereas N. oceanica, an Arctic species associated with ice cover, dominates the shallow shelf water. Downcore studies show that these species alternate in dominance within the late Quaternary sediments suggest climatic fluctuations.-from Author