The Holocene marine diatom flora of Eastern Newfoundland bays

In total, 39 diatom species belonging to 22 genera were identified and photographed from Holocene marine sediment cores of Eastern Newfoundland bays. The cores were retrieved from Placentia Bay in the southeast and Bonavista Bay in the northeast of Newfoundland. The study area lies at the meeting point of the cold Labrador Current and the warmer Gulf Stream and is sensitive to changes in ocean circulation. It is thus an ideal location for paleoceanographic reconstructions based on the analysis of (sub) fossil diatoms, for which a good taxonomic framework is essential. The studied sediment cores encompass different age ranges and together represent the entire Holocene epoch. The most abundant species belonged to the genera Thalassiosira, represented by 10 different species, Fragilariopsis (four species), Detonula, Thalassionema and Odontella (one species each). This study provides an annotated list of the most commonly identified diatom species and references to further literature. All taxa are documented by high quality photomicrographs.