Foraminiferal Assemblages at Ross Ice Shelf Project (RISP) Site J-9, Ross Sea, Antarctica

This dataset contains Miocene and Holocene foraminiferal population counts from the Ross Sea, Antarctica. In 1977–1978 and 1978–1979, the Ross Ice Shelf Project (RISP) recovered sediments from beneath the largest ice shelf in Antarctica at Site J-9 (82° S, 168° W), ~450 km from open marine waters at the calving front of the Ross Ice Shelf and ~890 km from the South Pole, one of the southernmost sites for marine sediment recovery in Antarctica. The samples are divided into a thin, unconsolidated upper unit (up to 20 cm thick) and a texturally similar but compacted lower unit (> 1m thick) containing reworked early, middle, and late Miocene diatom and calcareous benthic foraminiferal assemblages. A probable post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) disconformity separates the upper unit containing a dominantly agglutinated foraminiferal assemblage, from the lower unit consisting mostly of reworked Miocene calcareous benthic species. Three different sample types are noted: SC = sphincter core samples, CC = Core Catcher samples, int = interval samples. Species that are age diagnostic are noted in the species list and support a late Miocene age for the lower unit. All foraminifera were collected from the greater than 63 µm size fraction, in which the full floated material was examined.