Tertiary foraminiferal rock samples from the western Solomon Sea

Abstract

Rock fragments dredged from four R/VNatsushima stations contain Tertiary foraminifera. The oldest sample is an upper bathyal biomicrite of Early Eocene age (52 to 53.5 Ma) from the the Trobriand Platform. Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene neritic limestones were located off the Trobriand Platform and on the inner wall of the New Britain Trench. Miocene bathyal sediments come from the Trobriand Platform; similar Pliocene rocks were recovered here as well as from the inner wall of the New Britain Trench and the central part of the Solomon Sea Basin. No reworked pre-Tertiary foraminifera are present in any sample.