New surface-sediment distribution maps at 1:10,000,000 have been compiled as part of the Circum-Pacific Map Project. These maps represent the first depiction of such sediments on a systematic and uniform scheme for the entire ocean basin. The primary data used were the qualitative analysis of all Pacific cores in the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory collection (3,710 at last count) using smear-slide analyses by petrographic microscope combined with laboratory determinations of CaCO₃ content for quantitative control; additional data were taken from published smear-slide descriptions by others, and secondarily from the World Data Bank and the published literature. Ten dominant sediment types are depicted, with three minor types, in a classification based upo calcareous-biosiliceous biogenic components and conventional textural attribution. Base maps for the new maps, including bathymetry, are the five, 1:10,000,000 sheets produced by the Circum-Pacific Map Project on an equal-area projection. The maps depict unconsolidated sedimentary deposits exposed on the Pacific Ocean floor, at least those presumably at the sediment-water interface recovered by coring and dredging, and do not necessarily represent Holocene or recent material. The Circum-Pacific Map Project is a cooperative international endeavor intended to summarize the relation of known hydrocarbon and mineral resources to the major geologic features of the Pacific basin and surrounding continental areas.

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