The long core magnetic susceptibility data provide a means to correlate between cores. The presence of G. menardii (presence indicated by black bars) provide a better idea of the time spanned by the cores.  The upper bar represents the “Z” zone, or the Holocene, and the second bar represents the “X” zone, or Marine Isotope Stage 5 - the last interglaciation.  The older “W” and “V” zones were also identified in several of the cores having lower accumulation rates.

The magnetic susceptibility and G. menardii data collected at sea allowed us to estimate the rates of sediment accumulation on the ocean floor.  These preliminary estimates, based on the length of each long core and the rough age models described above, suggest that the intermediate depth cores have the highest accumulation rates.  These cores in particular are likely to yield extremely high resolution records of changes in circulation at intermediate depth.  The lower sedimentation rates estimated for the deeper cores will allow us to study  changes in deeper water masses farther back in time, in some cases over several glacial-interglacial cycles.