Abstract
Relationships between sedimentary environments and abundance of benthic animals were examined on the deep-sea floor, the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, in the northeast equatorial Pacific Ocean. Specimens were collected using a box corer at 8 stations by sieving through 0.3 mm mesh screen. Sediments showed finer grain size ranged from 5.63 to <TEX>$7.97{\varphi}$</TEX>, 83.1% of mean porosity, 1.81 kPa of mean shear strength and organic carbon content in sediment ranged from 0.97 to <TEX>$1.87\;mg/cm^3$</TEX>. Manganese nodules covered on the bottom layer from 4 to 57% of coverages. A total of 26 faunal groups in 6 phyla was sampled and comprised 1,467 individuals. Mean biomass were calibrated to 0.5 gWWt/<TEX>$0.06\;m^2$</TEX>. Small-sized animals including foraminiferans and nematods were dominated among the faunal group which comprised 49.1% (892 ind.) and 11.5% (320 ind.), respectively. In SPI-analysis, vertical bio-disturbance marks were not observed except to Beggiatoa-type bacterial mats. As the results of relationship between environments and benthos, abundance of benthic animals, especially nematode, showed only a negative correlation to the coverage of nodules, and any other sedimentary factors analyzed in this study were rarely affected to the spatial distribution of benthic animals.
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