Oceanography in the Kattegat and Skagerrak Over the Past 8000 Years

Abstract

In the Kattegat, between Sweden and Denmark, a large number of cores containing Holocene seafloor deposits were investigated stratigraphically. Sedimentological, biostratigraphical, and chronostratigraphical variables were especially emphasized. Palynological and foraminiferal analyses indicate several changes in the oceanographic circulation system in the Skagerrak‐Kattegat during the Holocene. Radiocarbon datings and pollen analyses suggest that these changes occurred at 8000, 4000, 2000, between 1000 and 500, and 300 years B.P. Compilation of stratigraphical data from the region suggests that at about 8000 years B.P. the English Channel opened and the Southern Jutland Current was formed. This had a major influence on the Skagerrak, but only a marginal effect can be traced in the Kattegat. The major components of the present circulation system in the Kattegat‐Skagerrak were established about 4000 years B.P., and the subsequent changes in the circulation pattern and the inflow‐outflow system that developed at approximately 2000, 500, and 300 years B.P. are variants of these.