Changes of planktonic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages in upper quaternary sediments of the Deryugin Basin, Sea of Okhotsk

The analysis of foraminiferal assemblages in sediments that were deposited during the last 30 kyr revealed similar patterns in their distribution in the central and marginal parts of the Deryugin Basin. The similar composition of foraminifers through the entire basin implies similarity in natural environments within its limits. The absence of benthic foraminifers or extreme impoverishment of the assemblages during the maximum of the last glaciation could result from a combination of several factors: drastic decrease in bioproductivity due to general cooling, development of bottom anoxia, and presumably unfavorable influence of seeps on geochemical parameters of bottom waters. The weak activity of barite-methane seeps in the central part of the basin during the Holocene is evident from some variations in the structure of benthic foraminiferal assemblages against the background of their similar taxonomic compositions.