Benthic foraminiferal assemblage data have been derived from a marine sediment core collected in a cold-water coral (CWC) site off northwest Scotland (near the Wyville Thomson Ridge - WTR). The record covers the last glacial period to the late Holocene. Our reconstructions enable to better constrain the paleoenvironmental changes that took place in the study area since the last glacial time and define the environmental conditions that allowed the onset, formation and decline of CWCs in the area. The sedimentary record was characterized by three distinct foraminiferal assemblages, dominant during the pre-coral time interval (i and ii) and the coral period (iii): (i) the “Glacial” assemblage (>13 cal ka BP) was characterized by the dominance of Cibicides refulgens and Discanomalina coronata. Low foraminiferal densities and diversities indicated unfavorable ecological conditions (i.e., low temperature and food availability, coarse substrate) that were most likely related to the extended British Ice Sheet; (ii) the “Deglacial-Early Holocene” assemblage (~13–9 cal ka BP) was characterized by the cassidulinids-Lobatula lobatula association, indicating a progressive increase of organic matter content and influx of warm and saline North Atlantic surface waters. We hypothesize that these were the main environmental factors that thereafter allowed the settlement of CWCs in the WTR area around 9 cal ka BP; (iii) the “Holocene” (<9 cal ka BP) assemblage was characterized by the cohabitation of diverse epifaunal species (e.g., Rosalina globularis) present when CWCs were highly abundant, and infaunal species (e.g., Trifarina angulosa) when corals were less frequent. The periods recording high presence of T. angulosa after 9 ka cal BP were interpreted as indicating a higher contribution of Eastern North Atlantic Waters during periods of retracted Subpolar Gyre (SPG), affecting probably the efficiency of food export to the seafloor.

底栖有孔虫组合数据来自在苏格兰西北部（Wyville Thomson Ridge - WTR 附近）的冷水珊瑚 (CWC) 地点收集的海洋沉积物核心。该记录涵盖了最后一个冰期到全新世晚期。我们的重建能够更好地限制自上次冰期以来研究区发生的古环境变化，并确定允许该地区 CWC 发生、形成和衰退的环境条件。沉积记录的特点是三个不同的有孔虫组合，在前珊瑚时间间隔（i 和 ii）和珊瑚时期（iii）占主导地位：（i）“冰川”组合（> 13 cal ka BP）的特征是Cibicides refulgens和Discanomalina coronata的优势. 低有孔虫的密度和多样性表明不利的生态条件（即低温和食物供应、粗糙的基质）最有可能与英国冰盖的扩展有关；(ii) “消冰期-早期全新世”组合（~13-9 cal ka BP）的特征是 cassidulinids- Lobatula lobatula 组合，表明有机质含量逐渐增加，温暖和咸水北大西洋地表水的流入。我们假设这些是此后允许 CWC 在 9 cal ka BP 附近的 WTR 地区沉降的主要环境因素；(iii) “全新世”（<9 cal ka BP）组合的特征是不同的表层动物物种（例如Rosalina globularis) 在 CWC 非常丰富时存在，而在珊瑚不那么频繁时则存在于底栖物种（例如Trifarina angulosa）。在 9 ka cal BP 之后记录T. angulosa 大量存在的时期被解释为表明在回缩的亚极环流 (SPG) 期间北大西洋东部水域的贡献更高，这可能影响了向海底出口食物的效率。