This dataset presents benthic foraminiferal (i.e., Hoeglundina elegans) trace element ratios (i.e., Cd/Ca, Mn/Ca, Al/Ca and Fe/Ca) at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1542 (52°42.292ʹS, 75°35.769ʹW; 1,101 m water depth) during Marine Isotope Stage 12-10. The limit of detection (LOD), is at 0.5 µmol/mol for Al/Ca, at 1.4 μmol/mol for Fe/Ca and at 0.56 μmol/mol for Mn/Ca. The samples were reductively cleaned and to determine the 1σ-uncertainty of the analyses, full replicates were conducted. The trace element ratios were measured at the Institute of Geosciences at Kiel University (Kiel, Germany) using an Agilent 7900 inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The H. elegans Cd/Ca ratios were converted to Cd seawater (Cd sw) using the calibration from Boyle (1992) and the depth-independent distribution coefficient (DCd) of 1 from Boyle (1995). The Cdw was used to calculate the [PO₄³⁻]. The [PO₄³⁻] values were additionally combined with a 4 ka smoothed δ¹³C record from the corrected H. elegans/C. wuellerstorfi δ¹³C record to calculate the air-sea equilibration signature (δ¹³Cas) using the calibration of Eide et al. 2017.