LATE QUATERNARY PALEOCEANOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN DIXON-ENTRANCE, NORTHWEST BRITISH-COLUMBIA, CANADA - EVIDENCE FROM THE FORAMINIFERAL FAUNAL SUCCESSION

Late glacial and Holocene foraminiferal stratigraphy of 7 piston cores from Dixon Entrance on the Pacific coast of Canada yielded Il biofaci es defined in part by cluster analysis and in part by the percentage o f temperate species, Temperate species are defined as those that are n ot reported to be living north of the southern Bering Sea, It is possi ble to define three phases in the latest Wisconsinan deglaciation base d on the percentage of temperate species: the glacial phase with 0 to 5% temperate species, the transitional phase with 5 to 20%, and the te mperate phase with more than 20%, Assemblages dominated by Epistominel la vitrea and Cassidulina reniforme characterize the oldest, ''glacial '' deposits (14,000-12,900 BP), Younger sediments have substrate-influ enced assemblages, Muddy ''transitional'' deposits (12,900-10,500 BP) are dominated by the same species as the glacial material, but the coa rser sediments are dominated by the attached form Lobatula fletcheri, The most abundant species in muddy ''temperate'' deposits (<10,500 BP) is either Epistominella pacifica or Nonionella stella. Coarse sedimen ts of the same age are numerically dominated L. fletcheri, and also co ntain temperate species of the genus Islandiella, Compared to Queen Ch arlotte Sound further south, Dixon Entrance had generally more open ma rine conditions due in part to the greater depth that facilitated shor eward advection of warmer and more saline deep waters as part of an in tense estuarine circulation driven by glacial melt.