Palynomorphs, specifically dinoflagellate cysts and pollen grains, have conventionally been used in paleoclimate reconstructions. Dinocysts and pollen in samples from the New Jersey Margin, however, are used in this study to provide valuable insight into both the age and systems tract character of sequences found both onshore and offshore. Palynological data from ODP Leg 174A continental shelf Site 1071 and the Leg 174AX Ocean View onshore borehole will be discussed. The data allow Miocene sequences to be correlated from previously analyzed slope sites (ODP Leg 150), across the New Jersey shelf, and onto the Atlantic Coastal Plain. One of the main objectives of the Mid-Atlantic Transect is to improve the dating resolution of seismically imaged unconformity sequences, especially at sites where paleobathymetry was shallow enough to be sensitive to eustatic variations. Miocene sediments had been difficult to date using the more established methods of foraminifer biostratigraphy or magnetostratigraphy as the shallow-water paleoenvironments excluded pelagic biostratigraphic markers, and magnetostratigraphy proved difficult in the coarse neritic sediments. Maximum and minimum ages have been assigned to samples taken from within sequences and near sequence boundaries with the aid of the calibrated dinocyst zonation of de Verteuil and Norris (1996). Changes in relative sea level during the Miocene are observable when the concentrations and species diversity of pollen and dinocysts, the pollen to dinocyst ratio (P:D), and the ratio of gymnosperm pollen to angiosperm pollen are plotted over the interval.

West: -80.0000 East: 20.0000 North: 75.0000 South: .0000

West: NaN East: NaN North: NaN South: NaN

West: NaN East: NaN North: NaN South: NaN

Expedition: 174A

Provider: SEDIS Publication Catalogue

Data set link: http://sedis.iodp.org/pub-catalogue/index.php?id=2003-064995 (c.f. for more detailed metadata)

This metadata in ISO19139 XML format