Image dataset of common benthic foraminiferal taxa in the North Atlantic seafloor surface sediments (59.5°N transect) between the Labrador sea and Faeroe-Shetland sill

The article presents a microphotograph dataset of 106 taxa of benthic foraminifera (BF) from surface sediments collected at 26 grab station during RV Akademik Ioffe 51st cruise (summer 2016). The selected stations are located along a 59.5°N transect in the North Atlantic. This is the key area of climate control, where the interaction of warm surface and cold deep water masses takes place, which affects the operation of the global oceanic thermohaline circulation. The analysis of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages allows us to describe the properties of bottom water mass, to draw conclusions about the environmental parameters at the bottom. This photo dataset will facilitate the identification of species of BF, and thus will accelerate the routine process of micropaleontological analysis and the subsequent reconstruction of environmental conditions.


Data
In this article, we present: -map of the North Atlantic showing location of the research stations as well as warm surface currents and cold deep currents (Fig. 1); -station list with geographic coordinates, sampling depth, and number of tests counted in the sample (Table 1); -list of BF taxa ( Table 2); -microphotograph tables of benthic foraminifera for each station and taxonomic descriptions to them (phototables 1e26).

Experimental design, materials, and methods
For the for micropaleontological analysis, we used the surface sediments (0e2 cm) from 26 grab sampler (Van-Veen type) station, obtained during the 51st cruise of the RV Akademik Ioffe (AI) in the summer 2016 (Fig. 1, Table 1). Then, the samples were weighed, dried and washed with distilled water through a sieve with a mesh size of 63 mm. We used a sediment fraction of 63 mm to retain such small species as Epistominella exigua and Alabaminella weddellensis [1e4]. The identification of living foraminifera was not carried out. Further, the identification and counting was made at least 150 per one Specifications Table   Subject Earth and Planetary Sciences Paleontology Specific subject area Benthic Foraminifera Marine bottom sediments Type of data Tables  Figure  Phototables  How data were  acquired Samples were collected during the expedition to the North Atlantic in the summer 2016, using grab sampler; benthic foraminifera were identified to the species level and counted under the microscope ZEISS Stemi 508; photos were made using a Nikon microscope SMZ25 equipped with a Nikon camera DS-Fi3 and NIS-Elements D software. Microphotograph tables were made in the computer program CorelDRAW12. Data format Microphotograph tables of benthic foraminiferae raw data; figure with map of statione raw data; table with station list and their coordinates, and total counts of individual speciese raw data. Parameters for data collection Standard laboratory processing of samples for micro-palaeontological analysis of bottom sediments using sieves of mesh size 63 mm.

Description of data collection
The samples were identified under the stereomicroscope, BF tests were counted and selected for the microphotography according the typical description of species. Data source location The North Atlantic at 59.5 N transect, the Labrador Sea and the Faeroe-Shetland sill (GPS coordinates are provided in the table 1).

Data accessibility
The data are available with this article

Value of the Data
This data presents reflects changes in the BF assemblages in the key area of the global ocean termohaline circulation The data are a comprehensive image collection representing common species of BF in the North Atlantic; the gallery can be used as a micropaleontological atlas, which helps to identify BF. Data may be useful in micropaleontology, taxonomy, paleoceanography. The data are valuable for understanding the diversity of BF in the high northern latitudes of the Atlantic ocean. Red arrows denote warm surface currents, and blue arrows denote cold deep currents [10,11].  Table 2). Species definition was based on publications of Jones [6], Feyling-Hanssen [7], Atlas of Benthic Foraminifera [8], Saidova [9]. Photos were made using a Nikon microscope SMZ25 equipped with a Nikon camera DS-Fi3 and NIS-Elements D software. Microphotograph tables were made in the computer program CorelDRAW12.