The data were raised to compare the history of sea-surface temperature (based on the alkenone unsaturation index UK'37), organic and inorganic carbon accumulation, and the ratio of stable nitrogen isotopes 15N and 14N in the Western Mediterranean Basin to that of coeval cores from the Eastern Mediterranean basin. There, periodic anoxia caused the deposition of organic-carbon-rich sapropels over the same time interval in the late Quaternary, but are not expressed in the western basin. The gravity core was taken on the Balearic Rise and was recovered during expedition Meteor 40/4 from 1900 m water depth.

Methods:Samples were obtained from cores taken aboard r/v Meteor either during the expedition or in the Core Repository of the Institute of Baltic Sea Research. Samples were punched out of the working halves with sawn-off syringes, wrapped in plastic, and stored frozen until freeze-drying in the shore-based laboratory. The dried bulk sample was homogenized by mortar and pestle.One set of subsamples (~1-2 g dry weight) of the homogenized bulk samples was used to extract lipids and to estimate the alkenone unsaturation index, a SST indicator (Brassell et al., 1986). Weighted splits of freeze-dried and homogenized sediments were extracted by ultrasonic agitation with 35-mL CH2Cl2 (2 ' 10 min). Elemental sulfur was removed by the addition of copper foil during the extraction. After each extraction step, samples were centrifuged, and the solvent was collected by pipette. The two lipid extracts were combined and dried in a rotary evaporator. The extracts were redissolved in CH2Cl2 and precleaned over a silica gel column (conditioned with 30-mL CH2Cl2) by elution with 14-mL CH2Cl2 and dried again in a rotary evaporator. The extracts were redissolved in n-hexane and subsequently fractionated using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC column, packed with silica gel was MERCK LiChrospher Si 100-5. Four fractions were obtained using 5.5-mL n-hexane, 14-mL n-hexane/dichloromethane, 9-mL dichloromethane, and 9-mL acetone as eluents. The ketones (here: alkenones) were isolated in the second fraction. The first fraction contained the aliphatic hydrocarbons, and the third and fourth fractions yielded the more polar compounds.Gas chromatographic (GC) analyses were carried out on a HR 8000 Fisons gas chromatograph (FID, cold on-column injection) equipped with a 30-m (0.32 mm ID) glass capillary column (DB5HT). Helium was used as a carrier gas (column head pressure 110 kPa). Oven temperature programming conditions were from 35°C to 300°C at 15°C min-1 followed by an isothermal period of 15 min at 300°C and from 300°C to 330°C at 15°C min-1 followed by an isothermal period of 10 min at 330°C. Alkenones were identified by comparing retention times with those of synthetic standards. Peak areas were converted to the UK'37 index, and SSTs calculated according to a global coretop calibration (Müller et al., 1998): SST (°C) = (C37:2 / (C37:2 + C37:3) - 0.044) / 0.033. Alkenone concentrations were determined from GC analyses of the ketone fractions based on peak responses relative to 5alpha-cholestane as an external standard.