Calcareous nannofossils of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea

Ocean Drilling Program Leg 104 recovered sediments containing calcareous nannofossils of latest Oligocene to Holocene age from the Voring Plateau in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. The section drilled is virtually the most complete and detailed sedimentary sequence yet obtained from such a high latitude North Atlantic location. Due to unfavorable paleoclimatic conditions, the nannofossil assemblages observed are generally of low diversity and poorly preserved. A limited nannofossil biostratigraphy can still be formulated, although many of the standard low-latitude zonal markers are absent in the area of study.
An important aspect of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea is the response of the sediments to the onset and variability of glaciation in the area. The sediments deposited since the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation consist of alternating carbonate- (and nannofossil-) rich interglacial sediments and carbonate-poor glacial sediments. The glacial sediments also contain ice-rafted debris, including reworked Cretaceous and older Cenozoic nannofossils. The reworked nannofossils were most likely deposited by ice-rafting from the area to the south with minor contributions of reworked material from exposed shelf areas near Norway and from fault-exposed outcrops of upthrust Cretaceous rocks in the area.