Pacific neogene stratigraphy

Abstract

The Fourth International Congress of Pacific Neogene Stratigraphy, was held July 29–31, 1987, at the University of California, Berkeley. This very successful congress was organized by the Regional Committee on Pacific Neogene Stratigraphy (RCPNS) of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and the International Geological Correlation Program (IGCP) Project 246 “Pacific Neogene Events in Time and Space.” The meeting was attended by 180 scientists from 16 different countries, and more than 90 presentations were made, on topics ranging from paleoclimatology, biostratigraphy, regional stratigraphy and geologic history, new techniques in stratigraphy, evolutionary studies, and modern biofacies and sediment relationships.A. R. Edwards of the New Zealand Geological Survey (Lower Hutt, New Zealand) spoke on climatic events that he recognizes in the late Neogene strata of New Zealand. The carbon isotope shift during chron 6 (6.3–6.5 Ma) is identified in the sequence at Blind River (Marlborough, New Zealand). The extinction of ∼25% of New Zealand molluscan genera during the latest Micoene (Kapitean Stage) accompanied the greatly accelerated diversification of planktonic foraminifera lineages at this time. The New Zealand events are also coeval with the Messinian “salinity crisis” in the Mediterranean. A series of events (extinctions of Mollusca, appearance of glacial rock types, foraminifera speciation, and nannofossil appearances) in New Zealand late Pliocene rocks reflect the climatic deterioration. One type of sub‐Antarctic molluscan fauna abruptly appeared in central North Island at 2.4 m.y., coeval with the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation.