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. Pronounced differences in accumulation rates and relative abundances of cysts formed by congruentidiacean dinoflagellates and relative abundances of oligotrophic cyst species between the eastern and the western region can be related to differences in palaeoproductivity, suggesting much higher values in the eastern area. The coherence between variation in frequency of the indicators for productivity and the boreal summer insolation and monsoon intensity in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean suggests an oceanographic reflection of regional intertropical, rather than boreal, dynamics.

For organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts of core GeoB1105-4 see Höll et al. (1998) dataset: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.55383

Supplement to: Höll, Christine; Zonneveld, Karin A F; Willems, Helmut (2000): Organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst assemblages in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and oceanographical changes over the last 140 ka. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 160(1-2), 69-90