(Figure 4) Stratigraphic distribution of planktonic foraminifera in DSDP Hole 93-604

During Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 93, upper Miocene through Quaternary sediments were continuously cored in Hole 604, located on the upper continental rise of the New Jersey transect (western North Atlantic). A detailed biostratigraphic study of these strata has been made using the vertical distribution of planktonic foraminifers. The Quaternary climatic zonation of Ericson and Wollin (1968) has been tentatively delineated and all the Pliocene zones and subzones (sensu Berggren, 1977) have been recognized. The rate of sedimentation was slow during most of the Pliocene but underwent a significant acceleration in the early Pleistocene. Quantitative variations in the distribution of planktonic foraminifers appear to be influenced by various factors, such as hydrodynamic winnowing resulting from the action of bottom currents and surficial thermal conditions caused by climatic changes. Both dissolution intervals and brief increases in the coarser detrital input seem, most of the time, to be correlated with indications of climatic cooling and may correspond to glacial events or cycles. This chapter delineates a precursor stage in the inception of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at 3 Ma and wide-scale Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles. Data from a detailed study of Hole 604 are briefly compared with the main sedimentary and microfaunal features of contemporaneous series previously drilled along the east American margin in the northwestern Atlantic. One of the striking observations appears to be the intense redistribution of sediments that affected this region in Neogene-Quaternary times.

Eocene benthic foraminifera of DSDP Hole 93-605

This paper describes and illustrates early to middle Eocene benthic foraminifers from northwest Atlantic Site 605, on the continental rise off New Jersey. Benthic foraminiferal faunas are dominated by Bulitnina spp., Nuttallides truempyi, Lenticulina spp., and Cibicidoides spp. Other common taxa include Oridorsalis spp., Gyroidinoides spp., uniserial taxa, arenaceous taxa, and Globocassidulina subglobosa. Together, these taxa usually make up 70% or more of the total fauna. The assemblages are interpreted as indicating a lower bathyal environment of deposition during the Eocene at Site 605. This is corroborated by an independent water depth estimate through backstripping, indicating a water depth for the beginning of the Eocene to late middle Eocene of approximately 2300 to 2000 m.