Samples were collected every 10 cm from the first four cores of Hole 1063D. Three different types of slides were prepared from the unprocessed samples: smear, strewn, and sieved. Strewn slides were prepared by physically agitating 1-2 g of sediment in distilled water for 1 min and then withdrawing the suspended material with a pipette after allowing the coarse fraction to settle out for 30 s. This suspended material was dried on a coverslip through heating on a hot plate. The unprocessed material was also sieved at 25 µm, with slides of both the greater and lesser fraction produced in the same manner as for the strewn slides. The sieves were thoroughly cleaned by brushing under a steady flow of water, placed in an ultrasonic bath for 5 min, and finally blown dry with high-pressure air (from both directions) between each sample. All slides were permanently mounted with Norland optical adhesive No. 61. No chemical processing was performed on the sediment prior to slide preparation.