The Late Cretaceous – Recent West Black Sea Basin and the Eocene–Oligocene Thrace Basin are separated by the Strandja arch comprising metamorphic and magmatic rocks. Since Late Cretaceous time the Strandja arch formed a palaeo-high separating the two basins which accumulated clastic sediment of >9 km thickness. During late Eocene – early Oligocene time the marine connection between these basins existed through the Çatalca gap west of Istanbul. The Çatalca gap lies on the damage zone of a major Cretaceous strike-slip fault; it formed a 15 km wide marine gateway, where carbonate-rich sediments of thickness c. 350 m were deposited. The sequence consists of upper Eocene shallow marine limestones (SBZ18-20) overlain by upper Eocene – lower Oligocene (P16-P19 zones) pelagic marl with a rich fauna of planktonic foraminifera; the marls are intercalated with 31–32 Ma acidic tuff and calc-arenite beds. The Çatalca gap is bounded in the west by a major normal fault, which marks the eastern boundary of the Thrace Basin. Seismic reflection profiles, well data and zircon U–Pb ages indicate that the Thrace Basin sequence west of the fault is late Eocene – middle Oligocene (37–27 Ma) in age and that the fault has accommodated 2 km of subsidence. Although there was a marine connection between the West Black Sea and Thrace basins during late Eocene – early Oligocene time, no significant exchange of clastic sediment took place. Sedimentation in the Çatalca gap ended abruptly during early Oligocene time by uplift, and this eventually led to the paralic conditions in the Thrace Basin.

A revised Upper Cenozoic stratigraphic framework of the Dutch sector of the North Sea Basin is presented whereby offshore stratigraphic units are integrated or correlated with onshore units. The framework is based on an integrated stratigraphic approach that combines elements of lithostratigraphy, seismostratigraphy and allostratigraphy. Offshore formations are redefined in terms of seismofacies and lithofacies associations, and are differentiated on the basis of common genesis and stratigraphic position. These facies associations represent five major depositional environments, which occur in repetitive successions in the subsurface of the Netherlands: Marine, Coastal, Glacial, Fluvial, and Local Terrestrial. Five conceptual basin-wide bounding discontinuities are identified in the North Sea-Basin that span land and sea. They are represented by both seismostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic unconformities and interpreted as surfaces that formed as a result of North Sea Basin-wide changes in depositional systems. Their formation relates to sea level rise, continental-scale glaciations, and tectonic processes. The bounding discontinuities separate informal allostratigraphic groups of formations that have a grossly uniform geologic setting in common. While the allostratigraphic principles provide a view on the stratigraphy on the largest spatial and temporal scale, the genetic concept facilitates mapping on a local scale.

The northern Prince Charles Mountains overlook the western side of the 700 km long Lambert Glacier–Amery Ice Shelf drainage system. Within these mountains, at Amery Oasis (70°50′S, 68°00′E) and Fisher Massif (71°31′S, 67°40′E), the Cenozoic glaciomarine Pagodroma Group consists of four uplifted Miocene and Pliocene–early Pleistocene formations here named the Mount Johnston, Fisher Bench, Battye Glacier and Bardin Bluffs formations. These are composed of massive and stratified diamicts, boulder gravels and minor laminated sandstones, siltstones and mudstones. Each formation rests on either Precambrian metamorphic rocks, or on Permo-Triassic fluvial strata. The unconformity surfaces are parts of the walls and floors of palaeofjords. The Miocene Fisher Bench Formation exceeds 350 m in thickness at Fisher Massif, where the yet older Miocene (or Oligocene) Mount Johnston Formation overlies basement rocks at up to 1400 m above sea level. Individual formations contain either Miocene diatoms, or else Pliocene–early Pleistocene diatom-foram assemblages. The diamicts are interpreted as fjordal ice-proximal or ice-contact sediments, deposited seawards of tidewater glacier fronts located some 250 to 300 km inland of the present ocean margin. Each formation records an ice recession following a glacial expansion.