“…Biostratigraphic interpretation of the Paleogene diatom assemblages from Leg 151 comes largely by comparison with diatom assemblages of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea (Schrader and Fenner, Dzinoridze et al, 1978;Fenner, 1985), the North Atlantic and Labrador Sea (Baldauf and Monjanel, 1989), the northwest Pacific region (Baldauf and Barron, 1987;Yanagisawa and Suzuki, 1987), and the antarctic offshore (including Harwood and Maruyama, 1992;Baldauf and Barron, 1991;Fenner, 1978Fenner, , 1984Gombos and Ciesielski, 1983;Hajós, 1976) and nearshore zones Harwood, 1989;Harwood et al, 1989). Many of the low-latitude biostratigraphic markers are very rare or are absent from the high latitudes; nevertheless, published studies of lower latitude Paleogene diatom assemblages, including those described by Palmer (1984), provide worthwhile comparison, particularly for the oldest diatom assemblages of Leg 151.…”