Identifier

etd-04172012-223524

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geology and Geophysics

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Site 380 of the Deep Sea Drilling Program [DSDP] is located in the southwestern region of the Black Sea (42°05.94’, 29°36.82’E). The location of this site is important due to its proximity to the narrow Bosphorus strait, the only present-day connection between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. Drops in eustatic sea level during extensive Pleistocene glacial episodes disconnected the Black Sea from the Aegean Sea at the Bosphorus strait, creating a change from brackish to freshwater within the Black Sea during these intervals. Organic-walled phytoplankton (dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, and fresh-water algae) are investigated to better constrain these glacio-eustatic sea-level changes associated with extensive Pleistocene glacial episodes that resulted in interruption of water exchange between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. A combination of high-precision analysis of morphological changes seen in two of the most abundant dinoflagellate cyst species present, Galeacysta etrusca and Spiniferites cruciformis, is undertaken and is combined with dinoflagellate assemblage changes to evaluate a possible morphological response of the cysts to changes in sea-surface salinity and better quantify the impact of sea level changes on the history of the connection.

Date

2012

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Warny, Sophie

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3005

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