Oxygen isotope composition of benthic and planktonic foraminifera from ODP Holes 146-893A and 167-1017B

Here we present oxygen isotope records (from planktonic and benthic foraminifera) at unprecedented resolution encompassing late marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 6 and Termination II (ca. 150-120 ka) from the Santa Barbara Basin, supported by additional southern California margin records, a region highly sensitive to millennial-scale climate oscillations during the last deglaciation.

These records reveal millennial- and centennial-scale climate variability throughout the interval, including an interstadial immediately preceding the deglaciation, a brief warm event near the beginning of Termination II, and a Bølling-Allerød-Younger Dryas-like climate oscillation midway through the deglaciation. Recognition of these events in an oxygen isotope record from a 230Th-dated stalagmite allows the adoption of this radiometric chronology for the California margin records.