A major objective of ODP Leg 174A (New Jersey outer continental shelf and slope) was to study the response of shelf sedimentation to large, rapid glacioeustatic variations that occurred during the late Neogene and to evaluate the validity of various sedimentation models. We examined relationships among depositional facies distributions and sequence stratigraphic architecture by integrating biofacies, seismic reflection geometry, downhole logs, and lithofacies at the two shelf sites that were drilled. Benthic foraminiferal biofacies indicate that Sites 1071 (88 m present depth) and 1072 (98 m present depth) were deposited in neritic (shelf) depths during the late middle Miocene to Pleistocene and thus were located in the region most sensitive to sea-level change. Benthic foraminiferal biofacies changes at these shelf sites provide a record of paleobathymetric and facies changes, indicating that: 1) lowstand deposits are thin or absent on the paleoshelf; 2) in general, the deepest water environments occur at the bases of sequences within transgressive sediments and shallow upsection within the highstand deposits; 3) deep-water faunas occur at the tops of two sequences (bounded by reflections m0.5s and pp5s at Site 1071 [upper Miocene] and by pp4s and pp3s at Site 1072 [lower Pleistocene]), indicating parasequence boundaries or previously unrecognized sequence boundaries; and 4) an unusually thick section of deeper-water faunas associated with clays occurs in the middle of the sequence bounded by pp5s and pp4s (upper Miocene) at both sites; this may reflect a time when the rate of subsidence exceeded the rate of sediment supply.