The reports and abstracts in this volume illustrates the breadth and depth of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research in marine geology.

Sequence stratigraphy represents a new paradigm in geology. The principal hypothesis is that stratigraphie successions may be subdivided into discrete sequences bounded by widespread unconformities. There are two parts to this hypothesis. First, it suggests that the driving forces which generate sequences and their bounding unconformities also generate predietable three-dimensional stratigraphies. In re cent years stratigraphie research guided by sequence models has brought about fundamental im provements in our understanding of stratigraphie processes and the controls of basin architecture. Sequence models have provided a powerful framework for mapping and numerieal modeling, enabling the science of stratigraphy to advance with rapid strides. This research has demonstrated the importance of a wide range of processes for the generation of cyclie sequences, including eustasy, tectonics, and orbital forcing of climate change. The main objective of this book is to document the sequence record and to discuss our current state of knowledge about sequence-generating processes.

This comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge of the biostratigraphy of marine plankton is the work of an international team of eighteen authors. It covers all the major fossil groups that can be used to date sediments and rocks in the time interval Late Mesozoic to Holocene. Altogether more than 3200 taxa are considered, almost all of which are illustrated and depicted on range charts, making the book a valuable work of reference in the earth sciences. For ease of reference by specialists interested in either calcareous or non-calcareous microfossils, the original work is now divided into two independent volumes. Volume I covers the calcareous microfossils and includes planktic foraminifers, calcareous nannofossils and calpionellids.