The objectives of Leg 161 required recovery of a continuous sedimentary sequence. Drilling multiple holes at each site, with coring intervals offset in depth, helped to ensure that intervals missing within a single hole were recovered in adjacent holes. During Leg 161, the continuity of the recovered sedimentary sequence was confirmed by development of composite depth sections at the multiple-cored sites. Figure 5A and Figure 5B shows an example of a composite depth section. A litho-stratigraphic summary of Leg 161 drill sites in the Tyrrhenian, Balearic, and Alboran seas is shown in Figure 6. The Holocene to Miocene sediment-accumulation history for all sites is shown in Figure 7.