Recent foraminifera in shelf sediments of the Scoresby Sund fjord, East Greenland

A study of sea‐bottom samples from shallow waters in the northern part of Scoresby Sund, off Jameson Land, East Greenland, reveals four different foraminiferal assemblages between 1.3 and 35.6 m water depth. The shallowest samples. Assemblage SA (1.3–2.2 m), contain only very few foraminifera, presumably due to the annual repeated formation of an ice foot. Assemblage SB (3.7 and 4.3 m) is characterized by the calcareous species Haynesina nivea and H. orbiculare, while the arenaceous species Spiropleclammina biformis, Reophax arctica, and Recurvoides turbinatus dominate all the faunas of Assemblage SC (9.3–25.9 m depth). The change in fauna to the succeeding Portatrochammina bipolaris ‐ Spiropleclammina biformis fauna (Assemblage SD, 29.6 and 35.6 m) presumably corresponds to the transition from the shallow Fjord water layer to the deeper and relatively more stable Polar water. Elphidiella hannai (Cushman & Grant) is recorded live for the first time in recent assemblages from the Atlantic Ocean.