Recent and Late Quaternary dinoflagellate cysts from the area of the Greenland –Iceland –Faeroe –Scotland Ridge

Abstract. Dinoflagellate cyst assemblages are described from Recent and Late Quaternary sediments recovered from Vema cores taken in the area of the Greenland – Iceland – Faeroe – Scotland Ridge. The dinoflagellate assemblage interpreted as indicating the Flandrian, “climatic” amelioration occurred in the sediments on the northern flank of the ridge whereas no evidence was found for this amelioration in the cores to the south. In the southern area, cyst assemblages proved an older climatic amelioration possibly of Eemian age. The potential for using dinoflagellate cysts to correlate oceanic and continental shelf areas is stressed.