Stable isotopic records based on the planktonic foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistrally coiling) from Holes 919A and 919B from the western Irminger Basin (62°40'N, 37°28'W) provide records of surface water environments of the mid- to late Quaternary in the Irminger Sea. The 147-m sequence clearly shows oxygen isotope Stages 1 through 20 (possibly to 25). Assignment of oxygen isotope stages is supported by calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, magnetic polarity stratigraphy, and strontium isotope stratigraphy. Sedimentation rates average ~17.9 cm/k.y. for the 960-420 ka interval and ~13.4 cm/k.y. for the 420-0 ka interval. Significantly, interglacial d18O in Stages 21 through 15 is 0.5 per mil to 0.8 per mil lower than in succeeding interglacials, suggesting warmer sea surface temperatures and/or lower salinity in this interval. The magnitude and rapidity of these low-d18O events suggest large variations in salinity of the Irminger Sea during the 860-600 ka interval, perhaps reflectinggreater meltwater flux derived from the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Supplement to: Flower, Benjamin P (1998): Mid- to late Quaternary stable isotopic stratigraphy and paleoceanography at Site 919 in the Irminger Basin. In: Saunders, AD; Larsen, HC; Wise, SW Jr. (eds.), Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program), 152, 243-248