Benthic foraminifers were examined from turbiditic sequences at Sites 717, 718, and 719. Three assemblages, 1, 2, 3, were identified and are interpreted as reflecting different bathymetric environments. Based on the distribution patterns of these assemblages, six paleontological intervals (a to f) were distinguished and correlated to the lithostratigraphic units and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and biochronology. This relationship indicated three signals of climatic deterioration, the first in the late Pliocene (around 2.42 Ma) and two others in the Pleistocene (younger than 1.59 Ma and 0.93 Ma).

Supplement to: Iaccarino, Silvia Maria; Proto Decima, Franka (1990): Distribution patterns of Neogene benthic foraminifers in sites 717, 718, and 719 (Leg 116). In: Cochran, JR; Stow, DAV; et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program), 116, 213238