(Table 1) Abundance of Pleistocene dinoflagellate cysts in ODP Site 133-820

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Compared with other Australian marine Quaternary locations, Site 820's dinoflagellate cyst assemblages are low in both abundance and diversity. Abundances are between < 1 and 14 cysts/cm3 , and the number of species is between 7 and 14 per sample. The dominant species are Operculodinium israelianum, Spiniferites bulloideus, Spiniferites hyperacanthus and Tuberculodinium vancampoae, which together usually make up more than 75% of the assemblage. The rareness of Protoperidinium spp., taxa usually associated with nutrient enrichment, suggests that upwelling was not a regular feature of this region during the Quaternary. The relative dinoflagellate abundance, which indicates changes in the position of the coastline, shows the presence of several sea-level events, particularly near the base of the sequence. Here, they parallel at least two upward-coarsening cycles in the sediment record. Further comparison is hindered by too large a sampling interval.

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