LATE HOLOCENE COOLING EVENT IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

Cores 255, 170, 17940-2, raised from the Okinawa Trough and South Chin a Sea, have been studied for planktonic foraminifers. Among all the sp ecies, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata is shown to be sensitive to winter sea surface temperature in the late Quaternary in the western Pacific . Its relative abundance fluctuations are significant and correlatable between the cores. The most conspicuous change during Holocene is the P. obliquiloculata minimum zone around 4-2 ka B.P.. which correlates probably to the neoglacial cooling. The widespread occurrence of this cooling event in the western pacific suggests that P. obliquiloculata is promising as a paleoceanographic and climatic monitor, possibly imp ortant for reconstructing sea-land correlation of climate.