| Summary: | The north-western continental margin of the Barents Sea represents the only gateway for deep-water masses moving between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans. The transfer of heat and salt to the Arctic Ocean is mainly attributable to the relatively warm and saline water masses inflow of the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC), which strength varied considerably over time in association with climate changes. On this respect, the western Svalbard margin, located on the western side of the Fram straight, represents a key area to study the paleoceanographic variation of the North Atlantic/West Spitsbergen currents. Contour currents along the south-western continental margin of the Svalbard area, generated expanded sedimentary sequences suitable for high-resolution paleoceanographic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The Storfjorden-Kveithola glacial sedimentary system (south of Svalbard) was investigated during the EGLACOM and CORIBAR projects (Fig. 1) with the aim of reconstructing the deep-water paleoceanographic evolution after Last Glacial Maximum. Here we present the preliminary results concerning the benthic foraminifera of a multidisciplinary study carried out on a 9 m long core collected from the middle slope of the Kveithola Trough Mouth Fan and two cores collected from the middle slope off Storfjorden glacial system. Sediment samples were analysed for textural, compositional and micropaleontological aspects (using benthic and planktonic foraminifera, diatoms and calcareous nannofossils). A preliminary age model has been built on the basis of magnetic susceptibility correlations with previously studied cores for which the age model was based on the palaeomagnetic record and radiocarbon dating. The benthic foraminifers are scarce in the lithological units that represent the deglaciation after LGM, and became abundant in the Holocene sequences, as generally observed for other microfossils taxa. The preservation state of the benthic foraminifera, indicated as percentage of fragmentation, is generally low ...
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