Cenozoic Mg/Ca ratios in benthic foraminiferal calcite with BWT and sea ice volume reconstruction

The record is strikingly similar in form to the corresponding benthic oxygen isotope (δ18O) record and defines an overall cooling of about 12°C in the deep oceans with four main cooling periods. Used in conjunction with the benthic δ18O record, the magnesium temperature record indicates that the first major accumulation of Antarctic ice occurred rapidly in the earliest Oligocene (34 million years ago) and was not accompanied by a decrease in deep-sea temperatures.