(Appendix table DR1) Foraminiferal distribution data for ODP Hole 178-1098B

Benthic foraminiferal data from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1098 indicate significant changes in deep-water conditions of the Palmer Deep, western Antarctic Peninsula margin, throughout the Holocene (13 ka to present). The earliest Holocene represents a period of transition from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Cold bottom waters, similar to saline shelf water (SSW), dominated the middle Holocene. The late Holocene in the Palmer Deep has been characterized by alternating dominance of circumpolar deep water (CDW) and saline shelf water. These changes have global oceanographic and climatic implications. We suggest that the middle Holocene bottom-water record, in the absence of circumpolar deep water on the western Antarctic Peninsula shelf, indicates high saline shelf water production and/or weakened circumpolar deep water production during the middle Holocene climatic optimum. The late Holocene benthic foraminiferal record indicates rapidly fluctuating sea-ice conditions and may indicate a teleconnection between the South Pacific and Southern Ocean, thus having implications related to the Southern Oscillation Index.

Miocene foraminiferal, bolboformid, dinoflagellate and diatom age calibrations for the northeastern North Atlantic

This study presents a new Miocene biostratigraphic synthesis for the high-latitude northeastern North Atlantic region. Via correlations to the bio-magnetostratigraphy and oxygen isotope records of Ocean Drilling Program and Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites, the ages of shallower North Sea deposits have been better constrained. The result has been an improved precision and documentation of the age designations of the existing North Sea foraminiferal zonal boundaries of King (1989) and Gradstein and Bäckström (1996). All calibrations have been updated to the Astronomically Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS) of Lourens et al. (2004). This improved Miocene biozonation has been achieved through: the updating of age calibrations for key microfossil bioevents, identification of new events, and integration of new biostratigraphic data from a foraminiferal analysis of commercial wells in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea. The new zonation has been successfully applied to two commercial wells and an onshore research borehole. At these high latitudes, where standard zonal markers are often absent, integration of microfossil groups significantly improves temporal resolution. The new zonation comprises 11 Nordic Miocene (NM) Zones with an average duration of 1 to 2 million years. This multi-group combination of a total of 92 bioevents (70 foraminifers and bolboformids; 16 dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs; 6 marine diatoms) facilitates zonal identification throughout the Nordic Atlantic region. With the highest proportion of events being of calcareous walled microfossils, this zonation is primarily suited to micropaleontologists. A correlation of this Miocene biostratigraphy with a re-calibrated oxygen isotope record for DSDP Site 608 suggests a strong correlation between Miocene planktonic microfossil turnover rates and the inferred paleoclimatic trends. Benthic foraminifera zonal boundaries appear to often coincide with Miocene global sequence boundaries. The biostratigraphic record is punctuated by four main stratigraphic hiati which show variation in their geographic and temporal extent. These are related to the following regional unconformities: basal Neogene, Lower/Middle Miocene ("mid-Miocene unconformity"), basal Upper Miocene and basal Messinian unconformities. Further coring of Neogene sections in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea may better constrain their extent and their effect on the biostratigraphic record.

Distribution of benthic foraminifera in lower Cretaceous sediments of the Cuvuer Abyssal Plain in the Indian Ocean

Analysis of 66 samples from DSDP Site 263 (Cores 263-4R-4 to 263-29R-4) reveals a unique faunal composition with a predominance of agglutinated taxa, many of them previously unrecorded from any other DSDP and ODP Indian Ocean sites. A total of 66 agglutinated and 31 calcareous taxa are documented and five new species are described: Hippocrepina gracilis n.sp., "Textuluriopsis" elegans n.sp., Aaptotoichus challengeri n.sp., "Gaudryinopsis" pseudobettenstaedti n.sp. and "Gaudryina" cuvierensis n.sp. Three assemblages are recognized based on changes in the composition of dominant taxa and occurrences of stratigraphically important species: (1) a high-diversity Valanginian to Barremian Bulbobaculites-Recurvoides Assemblage (Cores 263-29R to - 18R), comprised of numerous elongate agglutinated forms, rare nodosariids, and variable numbers of tubes and ammodiscids; (2) a moderately diverse Aptian to Albian Rhizammina-Ammodiscus-Glomospira Assemblage (Cores 263-18R to -7R) with highly fluctuating numbers of the nominate taxa and Haplophragmoides, Trochammina, Verneuilinoides spp., and Verneuilina howchini; (3) a very low diversity Albian or younger Assemblage (Cores 263-6R to -4R) containing sparse agglutinated foraminifera, rare nodosariids and rotaliids. We interpret the assemblages as shelf to lower slope and consider them to reflect a deepening palaeobathymetry as the Cuvier margin subsided after the initial breakup of East Gondwana during the Valanginian. Our interpretation is in sharp contrast with initial palaeodepth estimates of less than 100 m, as well as with original chronostratigraphic interpretations based on foraminifera and nannofossils which correlated the base of the recovered interval with the Aptian. The absence of many cosmoplitan forms, despite high diversity suggests strong faunal differentiation in the Austral realm or endemisn within the Cuvier Basin during the Early Cretaceous.

Composition and age of bottom sediments from the Southern Ocean

Geomorphology, geology, stratigraphy, lithology and geochemistry of bottom sediments in the South Ocean are under consideration. Regularities of distribution of iron-manganese nodules, features of occurrence of ore components in the nodules, nodule abundance in bottom sediments have been studied.

Diversity and zoogeography of Antarctic deep-sea Munnopsidae (Crustacea, Isopoda, Asellota) from three ANDEEP expeditions

The family Munnopsidae was the most abundant and diverse among 22 isopod families collected by the ANDEEP deep-sea expeditions in 2002 and 2005 in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. A total of 219 species from 31 genera and eight subfamilies were analysed. Only 20% species were known to science, and 11% of these were reported outside the ANDEEP area mainly from other parts of the SO or the South Atlantic deep sea. One hundred and five species (50%) were rare, occurring at only 1 or 2 stations. Seventy-two percent of all munnopsid specimens belong to the most numerous 25 species with a total abundance of more than 75 specimens; 5 of these species (40% of all specimens) belong to the main genera of the world munnopsid fauna, Eurycope, Disconectes, Betamorpha, and Ilyarachna. About half of all munnopsid specimens and 34% of all species belong to the subfamily Eurycopinae, which is followed in occurrence by the Lipomerinae (19%). Munnopsinae is the poorest represented subfamily (1.5%). The composition of the subfamilies for the munnopsid fauna of the ANDEEP area differs from that of northern faunas. Lipomerinae show a lower percentage (7%) in the North Atlantic and are absent in the Arctic and in the North Pacific. This subfamily is considered as young and having a centre of origin and diversification in the Southern Ocean. The analyses of the taxonomic diversity and the distribution of Antarctic munnopsids and the distribution of the world fauna of all genera of the family revealed that species richness and diversity of the genera are highest in the ANDEEP area. The investigated fauna is characterised also by high percentage of endemic species, the highest richness and diversity of the main munnopsid genera and subfamily Lipomerinae. This supports the hypothesis that the Atlantic sector of SO deep sea may be considered as the main contemporary centre of diversification of the Munnopsidae. It might serve as a diversity pump of species of the Munnopsidae to more northern Atlantic areas via the deep water originating in the Weddell Sea.

Upper Cretaceous agglutinated foraminifers from the western Pacific Ocean

Abyssal agglutinated foraminifers allow biostratigraphic correlation of Upper Cretaceous brown zeolitic claystones in Deep Sea Drilling Project Holes 196A and 198A and Ocean Drilling Program Holes 800A and 801 A. Three agglutinated foraminiferal zones subdivide the strata overlying the Campanian to Cenomanian cherts. The lower zone is characterized by Hormosina gigantea, which is a Campanian zonal marker in the North Atlantic Ocean and western Tethys. A major correlation level, which was observed in all holes studied, is based on the acme of evolute Haplophragmoides spp. This acme zone was observed in Sample 129-801A-6R-CC, about 9 m above the first occurrence of H. gigantea in Sample 129-801A-7R-1, 62-67 cm (approximately middle Campanian). The uppermost zone is characterized by dominant Paratrochamminoides spp. and in some instances common Bolivinopsis parvissimus (late Campanian to Maestrichtian). The available biostratigraphic data for the Upper Cretaceous of Sites 196, 198, 800, and 801 are correlated with the biochronologic framework of the North Atlantic, western Mediterranean, and Carpathians. Additionally, we use quantitative estimates of the diversity and abundance of agglutinated foraminiferal species to monitor general faunal trends with time in the western Pacific.