BENTHIC FORAMINIFERS OF THE INTERMEDIATE AND BOTTOM WATER MASSES OF THE GULLMARN FJORD (SW SWEDEN) IN EARLY APRIL 1992

Living and dead benthic foraminifers were studied in four samples coll ected at depths of 40, 60, 80, and 100 m in the Gullmarn fjord on Apri l 2, 1992, with the purpose of charting differences in assemblage comp osition among the samples in relation to hydrographic and environmenta l factors. It is suggested that the relatively high abundance of dead foraminifers found at 40 m may be due to postmortem transportation and redeposition of the microbenthos by currents generated by the frequen t water exchange of the intermediate water mass. The diversity of livi ng foraminifers was slightly but distinctly lower in the two deeper sa mples probably partly as a consequence of the lower oxygen content and food supply in the deeper water mass of the fjord during the winter m onths.