ABSTRACT

A reexamination of the sequences of planktonic foraminifers and calcareous nannoplankton in the Plio-Pleistocene sediments beneath the Louisiana Continental Shelf has been undertaken in order to modernize correlation schemes that were established 10 to 20 years ago. As a consequence, it can be shown that: (1) a new correlation of marine micropaleontological and continental glacial events is necessary; (2) the Gulf Coast faunal events can be reliably correlated with those in the type Italian Pleistocene section and in the deep-sea cores; (3) some species, the limits of whose ranges have been relied upon for isochronous boundaries, (e. g., Globoquadrina altispira) appear to have persisted in some areas for a considerably longer time than in other areas; and, (4) it is becoming increasingly evident that it is invalid to correlate the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, as defined by paleontology, with a climatically defined boundary.