More than 110 taxa of siliceous flagellates including silicoflagellates, ebridians,
actiniscidians, and synuraceans are tabulated from Cenozoic sediments of Hole 908A and 913B.
The assemblages investigated from Hole 908A, Fram Strait, are assigned to the upper Oligocene
Cannopilus hemisphaericus Zone of silicoflagellates. The assemblages studied from Hole
913B, East Greenland margin, yielded in the upper part the middle Miocene Spongebria
miocenica Zone of ebridians and in the lower part the middle to upper Eocene Corbisema
hexacantha Zone of silicoflagellates.
The assemblages of siliceous flagellates demonstrate that a permanent
surface-water exchange may have existed between the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, the Arctic
Ocean, and probably also the Barents Sea during Eocene and Oligocene times. Minor input of
surface-water from the North Atlantic is indicated by certain silicoflagellates for late Oligocene
time.
Several taxa of silicoflagellates and ebridians were recognized as new, but most of
them are treated with open nomenclature. Only 3 ebridian species that characterize middle to
upper Eocene and upper Oligocene assemblages are formally introduced as new: Ebriopsis
acuta, Hermesinella paraconata, and Hermesinum acus.
Date of initial receipt: 11 July 1995
Date of acceptance: 24 January 1996
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