(Appendix B Table 2) Abundance of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts of sediment core GeoB2204-2

A palaeoceanographic reconstruction of the Late Quaternary tropical Atlantic Ocean has been made on the basis of dinoflagellate cyst associations of two sediment cores: the first core was recovered from below the highly productive waters of the equatorial divergence and the second from the oligotrophic western tropical Atlantic Ocean. Palaeoenvironmental indicators for productivity, sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS) based on selected organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst species have been established.

On the basis of these palaeoenvironmental indicators, a strengthened intensity of the equatorial divergence in the eastern region during glacials and cold periods of interglacials has been reconstructed. The highest SST probably occurred around substage 5.5 and might refer to weakest upwelling intensity. In comparison, SST and SSS appear to have been generally higher in the western tropical Atlantic Ocean, with probably enhanced values during glacial intervals.