TIME AFTER TIME: ADVANCES IN CENOZOIC PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA BIOCHRONOLOGY (Invited Presentation)

Pioneering developments in Cenozoic biochronology were made by William Berggren in calibrating planktonic foraminiferal bioevents to the geomagnetic polarity time scale. The legacy of this work continues, with many of the calibrations originally published by William Berggren and colleagues still utilized in more recently published biochronologies. Yet, some of the (sub)tropical Cenozoic bioevent calibrations are derived from a single location, often from Deep Sea Drilling Project sites where the biostratigraphy was conducted at relatively low resolution. With the improvements in coring recovery and multiple hole Advanced Piston Coring, it became possible to conduct biostratigraphic studies at higher resolution, and astronomically calibrate bioevents. Here I delve into some of the major enhancements to the Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera biochronology over the last ten years, including new insights of the temporal and spatial distribution of planktonic foraminifera and the use of coiling directions as correlation tools. I will also discuss some tricky time intervals where research is still required.