The age model for the carbonate platform sequence sampled at Site 1196 (672 mbsf; Oligocene to Pleistocene) and Site 1199 (420 mbsf; Miocene to Pleistocene) is poorly defined (Table T7; Fig. F42) (see "Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments"). At Site 1196, one planktonic foraminifer datum at the very top of the sequence and one nannoplankton datum at the very bottom of the sequence define the total age range of the sequence. In addition, the age range of Sphenolithus heteromorphus in two samples and the age range of the larger benthic foraminifer Flosculinella botangensis, observed between 183 and 327 mbsf, constrain the middle part of the section to the middle Miocene. This important observation rejects the original working hypothesis for Site 1196, which presumed that the middle Miocene was represented here by distal slope deposits and not a carbonate platform. At Site 1199, Flosculinella was observed in a depth interval similar to that at Site 1196.
A magnetostratigraphy could not be established at Sites 1196 and 1199 because of poor core recovery (see "Paleomagnetism").
Sedimentation rates are not presented because of the poor biostratigraphic resolution. Age picks for lithologic and seismic unit boundaries are presented in Figure F42 and Table T8; uncertainty in the age picks is in the range of a few million years.