Jenna Meredith LoDico

Subcentennial‐scale climatic and hydrologic variability in the Gulf of Mexico during the early Holocene

the interval from 10.5 to 7 thousand calendar years before present from paired analyses of Mg/Ca and d 18 Oo n foraminiferal calcite. The sea surface temperature record based on foraminiferal Mg/Ca contains six oscillations and an overall � 1.5� C warming that appears to be similar to the September–March insolation difference. The d 18 O of seawater in the GOM (d 18 OGOM) record contains six oscillations, including a � 0.8% excursion that may be associated with the ‘‘8.2 ka climate event’’ or a broader climate anomaly. Faunal census records from three GOM cores exhibit similar changes, suggesting subcentennial-scale variability in the incursions of Caribbean waters into the GOM. Overall, our results provide evidence that the subtropics were characterized by decadal- to centennial-scale climatic and hydrologic variability during the early Holocene.