MOLECULAR STRATIGRAPHY OF CORES OFF NORTHWEST AFRICA - SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE HISTORY OVER THE LAST 80 KA

The molecular stratigraphy of Biogeochemical Oceanic Flux Study core 3 1K(19 degrees N, 20 degrees 10'W) and Ocean Drilling Program Hole 658C (20 degrees 45'N, 18 degrees 35'W) has been studied for C-37 alkenone abundances over the past 80 ka at high resolution (similar to circa 2 00-500 years). The derived U-37'(k) sea surface temperature record for both cores shows a range of temperatures from about 18 degrees C duri ng the last glacial to 21.5 degrees C during the early Holocene. Both records also reveal changes in sea surface temperature as much as 2 de grees-4 degrees C over a few hundred years, which correlate well with similar abrupt climatic changes observed in cores from elsewhere in th e NE Atlantic, associated with ''Heinrich events.'' Our results indica te that meltwater produced by these ice-rafting events was transmitted southward by the Canary Current, where it had considerable impact on sea surface temperatures in the subtropical eastern Atlantic.