Miocene Stable Isotope Record: A Detailed Deep Pacific Ocean Study and Its Paleoclimatic Implications

Abstract
Deep Sea Drilling Project site 289 in the western equatorial Pacific has yielded an extremely detailed record of the carbon and oxygen isotopic changes in the Miocene deep ocean. The isotopic record reflects major changes in paleoclimate and paleoceanography, probably dominated by a major phase of Antarctic ice-cap growth. The transition from a relatively unglaciated world to one similar to today occurred between 16.5 x 106 and 13 x 106 years before the present, with the greatest change occurring between approximately 14.8 x 106 and 14.0 x 106 years before the present.