An organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst analysis was carried out on sediment core MD03-2622, retrieved from the Cariaco Basin. The core comprises the 73-30 ka interval. Down core changes in cyst abundance, accumulation rate, and composition of cyst assemblages were used to identify climatic and oceanographic changes at orbital and millennial time scales in this near-equatorial seasonal upwelling area. Throughout the sequence, dinoflagellate cyst assemblages were dominated by heterotrophic dinocysts (mainly Brigantedinium spp.), with the exception of four autotrophic-dominated (mainly Spiniferites ramosus) intervals around 58, 53, 46, and 37 ka. At orbital time scales, changes in the dinoflagellate productivity seem to follow low-latitude insolation, with the... |