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Research-paper

The age of the Miocene-Pliocene boundary

Zijderveld, Johannes D. A.; Zachariasse, Jan W.; Verhallen, Peter J. J. M.; Hilgen, Frits J.

Newsletters on Stratigraphy Volume 16 Number 3 (1986), p. 169 - 181

published: 9/19/1986

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Abstract

Magnetostratigraphic data for the Mediterranean Lower Pliocene indicate that the Miocene-Pliocene boundary is situated slightly below the base of the Thvera subchron and that its extrapolated age is 4.83 or 4.84 Ma. In addition, these data show that successive migrational appearances of Globorotalia margaritae and G. puncticulata have interpolated ages of 4.65-4.66 and 4.13 Ma respectively. In extra-Mediterranean sequences lacking magnetostratigraphic control the Miocene-Pliocene boundary can be equated with the base of planktonic foraminiferal zone N19 (i. e. the first evolutionary appearance of Sphaeroidinella dehiscens) or with carbonate spike GI 14 in the equatorial Pacific.