On Pleistocene Surface Temperatures of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans
Maurice Ewing 1 and
William L. Donn 1
1 Lamont Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York
Two additional interpretations are given for the important data of D. B. Ericson on the correlation of coiling directions of Globigerina pachyderma in late Pleistocene North Atlantic sediments with ocean surface temperatures. One interpretation relates the distribution of this species to the distribution and circulation of ocean water masses. On the basis of our ice-age theory, our second interpretation uses the data and correlations of Ericson to establish temperature limits of a thermal node, a line on which glacial and interglacial temperatures were equal, for the North Atlantic Ocean. This line crosses the strait between Greenland and Scandinavia. Further, Ericson's interpretation of the 7.2°C isotherm implies that the glacial-stage surface waters of the Arctic Ocean were between 0° and 3.5°C.
