Middle to late Holocene sea-level change in Western Denmark : a diatom-based study

Abstract

Modem diatom assemblages and associated environmental variables were collected from six transects across the salt-marsh surface in the Ho Bugt embayment in western Denmark. The relationship between diatom assemblages and environmental variables (elevation, pH, salinity, loss on ignition, grain size) was explored using ordination techniques to assess the potential use of diatoms as sea-level indicators. Results for the two data sets analysed in ordinations indicate that elevation exerts a strong, independent and statistically significant influence on modem diatom distributions in the Ho Bugt embayment. Diatom-based transfer functions were subsequently developed to reconstruct changes in palaeomarsh-surface elevation based on the relationship between diatoms and elevation in the modem training set.

Date of Award	2007
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Plymouth