Lower Oligocene through middle Eocene sediments recovered along the New Zealand margin during ODP Leg 181 contain abundant, moderately preserved calcareous nannofossils in chalks and limestones, whereas mudstones are impoverished to barren. Key calcareous nannofossil marker species in conjunction with magnetostratigraphic data were used to create age-depth plots for Holes 1123C and 1124C. Sedimentation rates ranged from 0.3 to 16 m/m.y. in the lower Oligocene to middle Eocene sequences. Sites 1123 and 1124 both reveal an early Oligocene hiatus, the Marshall Paraconformity (Carter and Landis, 1972; Carter, 1985; Fulthorpe et al., 1996). Although bioturbated, the disconformity is marked by a clear break in the nannofossil assemblage and by distinct changes in lithology (Fig. F3). It is interpreted to represent increased erosion by bottom waters associated with increased velocity of the DWBC in the early Oligocene. Holes 1123C and 1124C indicate that the Eocene-Oligocene transition along the New Zealand margin was a time of changing paleoceanographic conditions.