Polish Polar Research

In this article, Svalbard was presented as place and object of intensive scientific research, carried on under the rule of the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty, which has transformed the archipelago into a unique political and legal entity, having no counterpart anywhere else in the world. Scientific activities in Svalbard are carried out within an uncommon legal framework, shaped by a body of instruments both of international law and domestic laws of Norway, as well as other countries concerned, while the Spitsbergen Treaty, in despite of its advanced age of 75 years, still remains a workable international instrument, fundamental to the maintenance of law and order within the whole Arctic region. In 1995 two important for Svalbard anniversaries were noted: on 9 February, 75 years of the signing of the Spitsbegren Treaty and on 14 August, 70 years of the Norwegian rule over the archipelago.

A small collection of discinids from Spitsbergen includes two poorly preserved fragments of ventral valves with an incomplete pedicle disc bearing a narrowly trigonal pedicle tract. This element is similar to the type known in Recent discinids. Its general size, comparatively large, is suggestive of a wide embayment of the larval ventral valve. A new species Discinisca spitsbergensis sp. n. is proposed.

The rocks exposed along the western coast of Arctowski Peninsula and on offshore islands, Danco Coast (West Antarctica), represent the following lithostratigraphic units: the Trinity Peninsula Group metasediments (?Permian-Triassic); the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group lavas, agglomerates and tuffs (Lower Cretaceous); the Andean Intrusive Suite, including adamellite, granite, granodiorite, diorite, tonalite and gabbro plutons (mid-Cretaceous), moreover basic and acid hypabyssal dykes (?Upper Cretaceous). The relationships between these rock-units are shown in geological map and sketches of field exposures.

The environments of inlets, coves and lagoons varies widely. Climate warming has lead to retreat of glaciers directly entering the sea. In lagoons this is accompanied by exposure of an uncolonized substratum. Colonization processes in these lagoon appear to describe processes which have previously occurred in bays and fjords of glacial origin in the South Shetlands.

Cumacean crustaceans found in 188 qualitative and quantitative samples of zoobenthos collected in Admiralty Bay (King George Island, South Shetlands) by successive Polish Antarctic Expeditions in the years 1977 — 1989 were studied. In over 3000 individuals of these crustaceans 12 taxa were recognized. Eudorella splendida clearly dominated the material. Other common species were Campylaspis maculata and Vaunthompsonia inermis. The highest cumacean density amounted to 2618 ind.m-2 . Clear differences were observed between cumacean faunas of small grain sediment (muddy Ezcurra Inlet) and of mixed, coarser sediments (central part of Admiralty Bay with sand, gravel and mud). The dominance of Eudorella splendida was strongly marked in shallow Ezcurra Inlet whereas in deeper central part of Admiralty Bay the cumacean fauna was much more diversifield.