(Table 2) Age-depth datums, sedimentation rate and accumulation rates of ODP Site 128-798

Results of preliminary pollen analyses of 280 samples from selected intervals of cores from Hole 798 on the Oki Ridge in the Sea of Japan (Sections 798A-1H-1 through 798A-3H-3,798B-1H, 798B-13H-1 through 798B-15H-8, and 798C-1H-1 through 798C-1H-3) indicate that (1) diagnostic pollen types of the vegetation of Japan are abundant and well-preserved in sediments deposited over the last 1.4 m.y.; (2) the concentration, preservation, and composition of pollen in the rapidly deposited sediments of Site 798 provide a basis for high-resolution (on the order of ~500-year intervals) pollen stratigraphy in Pliocene-Pleistocene Japan Sea sediments; (3) the pollen stratigraphy of sediments from Site 798 can be directly correlated with pollen stratigraphies of correlative ages onshore; and (4) the development of continuous, directly correlative Pliocene-Pleistocene terrestrial/marine paleoclimatic records from sediments deposited at Site 798 will provide a continuous high-resolution record of northeast Asian marine and terrestrial paleoenvironmental changes for the past ~2.4 Ma.