Nannofossil and oxygen isotope records from sediment cores HER-GC-T1 and CEUTA10PC08 for the last 25 kyr

Fossil coccolithophore assemblages and oxygen isotopes and alkenone- and planktonic foraminifera-derived sea surface temperature (SST) records allowed a reconstruction of the properties of the inflowing Atlantic Water (AW), which have proved to be a primary control of the variations in productivity in the neighborhood of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Other local factors, such as fluvial discharge, wind-induced and eddy-induced upwelling, are proposed to have influenced marine productivity in more distant areas. The entrance of cold and less saline AW during the stadials associated with Heinrich events 2 and 1 prevented primary productivity, which increased along the Last Glacial Maximum, probably due to a greater fluvial discharge. During Terminations 1a and 1b, the upper water column was affected by stratification, although wind-induced upwelling occurred locally.