Principal component analysis of Quaternary planktic foraminifera in the Gulf of Mexico: Paleoclimatic applications

Abstract

Principal component analyses of the percentages of 19 species of planktic foraminifera in 22 Gulf of Mexico deep-sea cores of late Quaternary age show that the first component for each core generates an approximate paleotemperature curve. The first component contrasts a warm-water assemblage composed of Globorotalia menardii, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, and a cold-water assemblage composed of Globorotalia inflata, Globigerina falconensis, Hastigerina aequilateralis, and Orbulina universa. The late Quaternary paleotemperature curves, plotted along the axes of this principal component, show a general similarity to those previously established. The principal component curves are highly significantly correlated with oxygen isotopic curves for the two cores where such data are available.