EARLY PLEISTOCENE DINOFLAGELLATES FROM THE ROYAL SOCIETY BOREHOLE AT LUDHAM, NORFOLK

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Abstract
Summary: A more complete account is presented of the ‘hystrichospheres’, both indigenous and recycled, originally found by West (1961) during his palynological investigation of Early Pleistocene marine sediments penetrated by the Royal Society Borehole at Ludhatii, in Norfolk, England. The commonly encountered ‘hystrichosphere’ types of West are identified as x=Operculodinium israelianum (R.)W., y=Tectatodinium pellitum W. and z = Leptodinium mulliplexum sp. nov., while it is probable that a collection of Hystricliospliaera species comprise West's category ‘hooked‐Hystrix’. The majority of these organisms are fossilized gonyaulacid and protoceratioid dinofiagellate resting cysts (spores). These dinoflagellates form five facies‐associations in this sequence. The palaeoecological significance of their distribution is discussed with special concern to palaeoclimates and the future use of dinofiagellates in Quaternary stratigraphy.