ASGP (2015), vol. 85: 309–320

MODERN AGGLUTINATED FORAMINIFERA FROM THE HOVGÅRD RIDGE, FRAM STRAIT, WEST OF SPITSBERGEN: EVIDENCE FOR A DEEP BOTTOM CURRENT

Michael A. KAMINSKI (1,2,3) & Frank NIESSEN (4) and the PS87 Shipboard Geoscience Party (5)

1) Earth Sciences Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, PO Box 701, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia
2) AGH University of Science & Technology, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, Mickiewicza Ave 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
3) Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WCIE 6BT, U.K.; e-mail: kaminski at kfupm.edu.sa
4) Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Alten Hafen 26, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany; e-mail: frank.niessen at awi.de
5) See Appendix 2

Kaminski, M. A. & Niessen, F. (and the PS87 Shipboard Geoscience Party), 2015. Modern agglutinated Foraminifera from the Hovgård Ridge, Fram Strait, west of Spitsbergen: evidence for a deep bottom current. Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 85: 309–320.

Abstract: Deep-water agglutinated foraminifera on the crest of the Hovgård Ridge, west of Spitsbergen, consist mostly of large tubular astrorhizids. At a boxcore station collected from the crest of Hovgård Ridge at a water depth of 1169 m, the sediment surface was covered with patches of large (1 mm diameter) tubular forms, belonging mostly to the species Astrorhiza crassatina Brady, with smaller numbers of Saccorhiza, Hyperammina, and Psammosiphonella. Non-tubular species consisted mainly of opportunistic forms, such as Psammosphaera and Reophax. The presence of large suspension-feeding tubular genera as well as opportunistic forms point to the presence of deep currents at this locality that are strong enough to disturb the benthic fauna. This is confirmed by data obtained from sediment echosounding, which exhibit lateral variation in relative sedimentation rates within the Pleistocene sedimentary drape covering the ridge, indicative of winnowing in a south-easterly direction.

Manuscript received 5 October 2014, accepted 30 March 2015