Paleotemperature Analysis of Core 280 and Pleistocene Correlations

The paleotemperature record of the Swedish deep-sea core 280 from the middle North Atlantic correlates closely with similar records of other deep-sea cores from the equatorial Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. A generalized curve of the temperature variations of tropical surface oceanic waters during the last 300,000 years, based on the paleotemperature curves of the deep-sea cores, shows a close correlation with continental temperature variations inferred from loess profiles and pollen profiles and with eustatic changes of sea level. The temperature of the bottom water of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean followed the variations at the surface with a smaller amplitude and a time delay less than a few thousand years.