Foraminiferal faunas of the Quaternary Hostrup Clay from northern Jutland, Denmark

One profile and four short borings were analyzed. A marine Quaternary deposit, here called the Hostrup Clay, was found. The two dominant species in the Hostrup Clay were Elphidium excavatum , forma clavata and Cassidulina crassa , whereas characteristic accessory species were Protelphidium orbiculare in the lower clayey part of the deposit, and Buccella frigida, Elphidiuni albiumbilicatum , and E. subarcticum together with P. orhiculare in the upper more sandy part. The Hostrup Clay faunas were compared with assemblages from other marine Quaternary deposits. The present deposit is probably correlatable with the lower part of the marine sequence of the Inder Bjergum borings at Ribe, which is supposed to be of Holsteinian Interglacial age. However, as the foraminiferal faunas indicate a climatic succession from arctic to probably boreo-arctic conditions, the Hostrup Clay, together with the corresponding cold part of the marine Quaternary sequence in the Ribe-Esbjerg region, may represent the Lateglacial part of the preceding Glacial Period, i.e. the Elsterian.