Université de Fribourg

Impact of bottom water currents on benthic foraminiferal assemblages in a cold-water coral environment: The Moira Mounds (NE Atlantic)

Fentimen, Robin ; Lim, Aaron ; Rüggeberg, Andres ; Wheeler, Andrew J. ; Rooij, David Van ; Foubert, Anneleen

In: Marine Micropaleontology, 2020, vol. 154, p. 101799

Strong bottom currents play a key role in cold-water coral environments by shaping their morphology and providing the necessary food for the corals to thrive. This study investigates the differences between living and dead benthic foraminiferal assemblages in such environments, more precisely on the Moira Mounds (NE Atlantic). A specific focus is to understand the role of currents and their...

Université de Fribourg

Large-scale paleoceanographic variations in the western Mediterranean Sea during the last 34,000 years: From enhanced cold-water coral growth to declining mounds

Stalder, Claudio ; El Kateb, Akram ; Vertino, Agostina ; Rüggeberg, Andres ; Camozzi, Osvaldo ; Pirkenseer, Claudius M. ; Spangenberg, Jorge E. ; Hajdas, Irka ; Rooij, David Van ; Spezzaferri, Silvia

In: Marine Micropaleontology, 2018, vol. 143, p. 46–62

Quantitative and qualitative analyses of cold-water coral (CWC) fragments from two sediment cores obtained from the Melilla Mounds Field (MMF) in the Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean Sea, reveal an alternation of periods dominated by distinct CWC species. The lower parts of the cores are dominated by the CWC species Lophelia pertusa, which is successively replaced in the upper parts by the...

Université de Fribourg

Schackoinella Spina, a new benthic foraminiferal species from cold-water coral ecosystems of the alboran sea and the gulf of Cádiz

Stalder, Claudio ; Székely-Szabolcs, Flavius ; Kateb, Akram El ; Rooij, David Van ; Spezzaferri, Silvia

In: The Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 2015, vol. 45, no. 4, p. 344–353

Schackoinella spina n. sp. has been found in the eastern Alboran Sea at five different stations in water depths ranging from 258–330 m, as well as in one 532 m deep station in the Gulf of Cádiz, north-eastern Atlantic Ocean. Three stations have been sampled with a giant box core (BC) and two stations with a gravity core (GC) system. The sediments of the BCs and the GCs are characterized by...