Changes in distribution of calcareous benthic foraminifera in the central Barents Sea between the periods 1965–1992 and 2005–2006

Palaeoceanographic development in Storfjorden, Svalbard, during the deglaciation and Holocene: evidence from benthic foraminiferal records

“…The high relative abundance of N. labradorica indicates that Storfjorden in this period was strongly influenced by the Arctic Front (see Hald & Steinsund ; Steinsund ; Saher et al . ). It also indicates that the sea ice cover was seasonal and less extensive than during the preceding period and probably also less extensive than today (Fig.…”

Recent benthic foraminifera in the Arctic Ocean and Kara Sea continental margin

“…Other characteristic calcareous species are Epistominella nipponica and Islandiella helenae with average abundances between 3 and 4 % (Appendix 1). The diversity indices are different from cluster 1 by a higher number of species (28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38). The diversity indices also increase to 13-24 for Fisher alpha and 2-3 for Table 2).…”

“…A limited amount of studies of benthic foraminifera in surface sediments in the Arctic Ocean and adjoining seas have been carried out the last forty years: Lagoe [21], Schröder-Adams et al [37], Scott and Vilks [35], Bergsten [2], Hald and Steinsund [11], Ishman and Foley [15], Wollenburg and Mackensen [43], Osterman et al [25], Wollenburg and Kuhnt [44], Scott et al [36] and Saher et al [30,31]. Sediment samples investigated in these studies have been collected in different ways using grab samplers, gravity coring, box coring or multi coring.…”

“…Additionally Wollenburg et al [45] and Cronin et al [5] used [63 lm size fraction. Staining of the living specimens has only been performed in some of the studies of modern benthic foraminifera: Schröder-Adams et al [37], Bergsten [2], Hald and Steinsund [11], Wollenburg and Mackensen [43], Wollenburg and Kuhnt [44], Scott et al [36] and Saher et al [30,31] Furthermore, only some of these studies have distinguished between stained (living) and not stained (dead) fauna assemblages counting at least 300 specimens from each group (e.g., Wollenburg and Mackensen [43], Wollenburg and Kuhnt [44]. The studies found that environmental parameters such as water depth, type of substrate and water mass characteristics are not the main factors ruling the distribution of modern benthic foraminifera.…”

Calcareous microfossil-based orbital cyclostratigraphy in the Arctic Ocean

“…Studies of deglacial, Holocene and/or modern Arctic benthic foraminiferal faunas have been important in attributing dissolution to explain observed species distributions. These include studies of the Canadian Arctic (Scott et al, 2008 and references therein), Kara Sea (Hald and Steinsund, 1996;Polyak et al, 2002), Svalbard (Steinsund and Hald, 1994;Korsun and Hald, 2000), the Barents Sea (Korsun and Hald, 1998;Saher et al, 2012), Norwegian fjords (Alve et al, 2011), the St. Anna Trough (Hald et al, 1999), and the Canada Basin (Lagoe, 1977;Osterman et al, 1999). In comprehensive studies of eastern Arctic benthic foraminifers covering Arctic ridges and continental margins, Wollenburg and Mackensen (1998) and Wollenburg and Kuhnt (2000) concluded that seasonally sea-ice free regions experienced dissolution but that perennially sea-ice covered regions of the central Arctic had well-preserved benthic faunas.…”