Macrofauna associated with submarine groundwater discharge sites and a cold seep in Svalbard fjords

The study investigated the influence of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) on benthic macrofaunal communities in Svalbard fjords, Arctic Norway. Sampling took place at three SGD sites: Tempelfjorden inner basin (T SGD; 78.4 m water depth), Murdoch Hole (M SGD; 39.5 m water depth), and Hornsund (H SGD; 117 m water depth), and one cold seep site on the Hornsundbanken shelf (HB; 126 m water depth).

At the Hornsundbanken seep, samples were taken from two microhabitats: microbial mats (HB mats) and regular seep sediment (HB reg).At the two Tempelfjorden sites, two replicate sediment cores (9 cm diameter) were collected using a GEMAX corer. At Hornsund and Hornsundbanken, three replicate push cores (8.5 cm diameter) were taken using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Ægir 6000. Sediment cores were sieved over a 0.5 mm mesh and immediately preserved in 4% buffered formaldehyde, then transferred to 70% ethanol in the laboratory.