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Introduction General Methods and procedures Site 172 Geologic and stratigraphic setting Planktonic foraminifera and age Benthonic foraminifera Origin of lower Oligocene carbonate ooze Site 173 Geologic and stratigraphic setting Abundance and preservation of foraminifera Planktonic foraminifera Age, biostratigraphy, and paleo-oceanography Benthonic foraminifera and paleobathymetry Site 174 Geologic and stratigraphic setting Abundance and preservation of foraminifera Planktonic foraminifera, age, and paleo-oceanography Benthonic foraminifera and paleobathymetry Site 175 Geologic and stratigraphic setting Abundance and preservation of foraminifera Planktonic foraminifera, age, and paleo-oceanography Benthonic foraminifera aad paleobathymetry Site 176 Geologic and stratigraphic setting Abundance and preservation of foraminifera Planktonic foraminifera, age, and paleo-oceanography Benthonic foraminifera and paleobathymetry Site 177 Geologic and stratigraphic setting Abundance and preservation of foraminifera CONTENTS

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Pleistocene and Pliocene planktonic foraminiferal faunas found at Sites 299, 300, 301, and 302 in the Sea of Japan are dominated by Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and Globigerina bulloides s.l. including G. umbilicata. Minor accessory species include Globigerina quinqueloba, Globigerinita glutinata, G. uvula, and Globorotalia scitula. These species form a subarctic biofacies characteristic of upper Pliocene through Recent deposits in much of the sea. Only sparse faunas were recovered at Sites 300, 301, and 302, but quantitative analysis of a fair to good Pleistocene sequence at Site 299 in the Toyama Channel clearly records significant planktonic foraminiferal events correlative with the initiation of severe cooling at 900,000 yr B.P. and a significant interglacial warming about 500,000 yr B.P. Unusual paleooceanographic and geochemical environments have been created in this sea during glacial maxima and minima due to unusually shallow basin sills which, together with a relatively shallow calcium carbonate compensation depth (CCD), account for the virtual absence of calcareous foraminiferal assemblages from major portions of the sediments penetrated at Leg 31 sites in the Sea of Japan.

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