Tertiary-Upper Cretaceous palynostratigraphy of the MITI Tempoku borehole, northern central Hokkaido

A Miocene-Upper Cretaceous section of the MITI Tempoku borehole, northern Hokkaido, was subdivided into seven dinoflagellate cyst assemblage zones. Biostratigraphically useful pollen and spore assemblages were also recorded from the lower Paleogene-upper Upper Cretaceous part of the section which is mostly nonmarine or deltaic. The combination of these organic microfossils established a fundamental biostratigraphic-chronostratigraphic framework in the section, where the recovery of other calcareous and siliceous microfossils was not very significant. The case study demonstrates the practical application of palynology to Cenozoic-Mesozoic sections particularly in the higher latitudes in Japan and its surrounding areas.