Benthic foraminifera from West Antarctic fiord environments: An overview

After several years of research, the foraminiferal fauna of Admiralty Bay (King George Island, South Shetland Islands) has become the most studied fiord in West Antarctica with respect to foraminifera. As such, it provides actualistic data for better understanding of paleoenvironmental records from this dynamically changing area. Over a few years, the bay was systematically sampled down to 520 m water depth, for multi-chambered and monothalamous benthic foraminifera, including soft-walled allogromiids often overlooked in former studies. Altogether, 138 taxa were identified, and three new taxa described. This paper aims to integrate these results, put them into a broader perspective, and supplement them with information that was not presented to date. Most notably, a record of the vertical distribution of Rose Bengal stained foraminifera below the sediment surface and the proportions of soft and robustly-testate forms at different sites are described.