(Table 2) Occurrence of the most abundant nannofossil taxa in middle Cretaceous sediments of ODP Leg 129 sites

Middle Cretaceous calcareous nannofossils were quantitatively studied at Sites 800, 801, and 802 of Leg 129. Samples were selected after careful inspection of the total abundance and preservation of nannofloras in pelagic sediments in order to analyze only the best-preserved assemblages and exclude major secondary modifications of the nannofloras due to dissolution/diagenesis. Nannofossil data were compared with radiolarian distribution and paleolatitude values to trace the response of planktonic communities to plate motions toward the paleoequator.