Regional and global benthic 18O stacks for the last glacial cycle

Although detailed age models exist for some marine sediment records of the last glacial cycle (0-150ka), age models for many cores rely on the stratigraphic correlation of benthic O-18, which measures ice volume and deep ocean temperature change. The large amount of data available for the last glacial cycle offers the opportunity to improve upon previous benthic O-18 compilations, such as the LR04 global stack. Not only are the age constraints for the LR04 stack now outdated but a single global alignment target neglects regional differences of several thousand years in the timing of benthic O-18 change during glacial terminations. Here we present regional stacks that characterize mean benthic O-18 change for 8 ocean regions and a volume-weighted global stack of data from 263 cores. Age models for these stacks are based on radiocarbon data from 0 to 40ka, correlation to a layer-counted Greenland ice core from 40 to 56ka, and correlation to radiometrically dated speleothems from 56 to 150ka. The regional O-18 stacks offer better stratigraphic alignment targets than the LR04 global stack and, furthermore, suggest that the LR04 stack is biased 1-2kyr too young throughout the Pleistocene. Finally, we compare global and regional benthic O-18 responses with sea level estimates for the last glacial cycle.