Paleomagnetic on three sediment cores from the Antarctic continental slope in the Weddell Sea

The first stable isotope records of the Southern Polar Ocean can be correlated in detail with global isotope stratigraphy. Together with magnetostratigraphic, sedimentological and micropaleontological data, the record provides stratigraphic and paleoceanographic information back to the Jaramillo subchron (910 kyr).

Although the isotope values have been altered by diagenetic processes in the sediments, which are poor in carbonate, an interpretation is possible via correlation with the sedimentological parameters. Oxygen isotope data give indications for a meltwater spike at the beginning of interglacials, when large scale melting of parts of the ice shelves took place. The synchronous record of the benthic and planktonic d13C-signals reflect continuous bottom water formation also during glacials.