HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENTAL AND RELATIVE SEA-LEVEL CHANGES IN THE SANTONA ESTUARY, SPAIN

The benthic foraminifera of the Holocene succession of 3 boreholes in the Santona estuary (Bay of Biscay, northern Spain) have been analyzed . Two types of foraminiferal assemblages have been distinguished: indi genous and exotic (derived from the open coast). They have been used t o interpret the environments of deposition, which range from brackish low-marsh and intertidal to near-marine intertidal with different amou nts of open-sea influence. Two different upward-shallowing sequences h ave been identified (similar to 8000 BP and similar to 3000 BP) and in terpreted as showing episodic increase of sea level in the study area.