2018 Issue №4

The method of ground shores monitoring includes a set of activities on local sites with reference to a network of reference benchmarks. The greatest amount of information is given by the data of the transverse shore leveling. The combination of a number of different profiles allows one to obtain speed and direction quantitative characteristics of the coastal processes at a particular morphodynamic site over a specific time interval. It is important to have a reasonable choice of a marker, i. e. an element of the relief, the change in position of which makes it possible to obtain the magnitude of deformations of the shore as a whole or its individual forms. The choice of marker depends on the purpose of the study. The disadvantage of this method is the local nature of the works while its accuracy, objectivity and comparability create a certain advantage.

The article examines the ecology of benthic foraminifera species of Alabaminella weddellensis and Epistominella exigua based on published works. Micropaleontological and statistical data of three long sediment cores taken from the southwestern part of the South Atlantic and one core obtained in the northwestern Pacific were used to study the characteristic of the species distribution in the sediments during last 300 thousand years. These areas belong to the oligotrophic ecosystems of the open ocean, remote from the upwelling regions and located outside the seasonal ice cove zones. It is shown that unlike E. exigua, the maximal content of the species A. weddellensis corresponds to the intervals characterized by increased species diversity and, probably, more productive conditions.