Annual Report 2011 of the Working Group on Paleogene Stratigraphy of the North Pacific

1. In April 2011 a workshop on Paleogene stratigraphy of the Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Japan region was held in Saint-Petersburg. Special attention was attracted to absolutely new data on Ypresian foraminifers and mollusks (sharp appearance of abundant warm-water assemblages in North Kamchatka) and diatoms (first finds in the Middle Eocene deposits of Kamchatka).
2. In August 2011 the Working Group met in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to discuss correlations of Paleogene stratigraphic charts for different regions of the Northwestern Pacific.
3. A large summarization “Discovery of marine Ypresian in North Kamchatka (stratigraphy, paleontology, and paleogeography)” has been completed and prepared for press. It contains stratigraphic analysis of assemblages of planktonic and benthic foraminirs and mollusks. Some zones and beds with fauna were distinguished. The Paleogene correlations between Kamchatka and North America revealed a large similarity (up to 50-70% common forms), which evidences for wide connections of shelf basins at this time. The biotic compositions suggest that the Ypresian period in the North Pacific was characterized by paratropical climate.

Report by Yu. B. Gladenkov, Chairman