Dansgaard-Oeschger and heinrich event imprints in Alboran Sea paleotemperatures

Past sea surface temperature (SST) evolution in the Alboran Sea (western Me diterranean) during the last 50,000 years has been inferred from the study of C-37 alkenones in International Marine Global Change Studies MD952043 co re. This record has a time resolution of similar to 200 years allowing the study of millennial-scale and even shorter climatic changes. The observed S ST curve displays characteristic sequences of extremely rapid warming and c ooling events along the glacial period. Comparison of this Alboran record w ith delta(18)O from Greenland ice (Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 core) show s a strong parallelism between these SST oscillations and the Dansgaard-Oes chger events. Five prominent cooling episodes standing out in the SST profi le are accompanied by an anomalous high abundance of Neogloboquadrina pachy derma sinistral which is confined to the duration of these cold intervals. These features and the isotopic record reflect drastic changes in the surfa ce hydrography of the Alboran Sea in association with Heinrich events H1-5.