Pliocene marine foraminifer assemblages are known from Larsemann Hills (Quilty et al., 1990), Marine Plain (Quilty et al., 2000a), and Heidemann Valley (Hirvas et al., 1993), and Paleogene foraminifer assemblages occur on Mac. Robertson Shelf (Quilty, 2001). It was hoped that the Leg 188 sections would provide continuous offshore sections with assemblages in common so that the onshore sections, each representing a short time interval, could be correlated with a longer-term reference section. The offshore assemblages have very little in common with those onshore, the differences being due to differences in environment of deposition (very shallow marine embayments onshore, deeper, open-ocean waters with CCD effects offshore). Knowledge of the Paleogene faunas of the Mac. Robertson Shelf has helped interpret other aspects (presence of recycled glauconite) in the section at Site 1165.