Fossil Plankton Stratigraphies Database: plankton1.readme file
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               World Data Center A- Paleoclimatology
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NOTE: PLEASE CITE ORIGINAL REFERENCE WHEN USING THIS DATA!!!!!


NAME OF DATA SET: Fossil Plankton Stratigraphies
LAST UPDATE: 3/92 
CONTRIBUTOR: William Ruddiman, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
IGBP PAGES/WDCA Data Contribution Series #:  92-005

SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: 
Ruddiman, W., 1992, Fossil Plankton Stratigraphies.  IGBP PAGES/World Data Center-A for
Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 92-005.  NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program,
Boulder CO, USA.

ORIGINAL REFERENCES:   (Transfer function equations used to estimate 
sea-surface temperature in the mid to high latitude North Atlantic).

AOF13		N.G. Kipp(1975). New transfer function for estimating past 
sea-surface conditions from sea-bed distribution of planktonic foraminiferal 
assemblages in the North Atlantic.  Memoir 145, Geological Society of America.

AOF13B-4CE   W.F. Ruddiman, L.K. Glover(1975). Subpolar North Atlantic 
circulation at 9,300 yr BP: Faunal evidence.  Quaternary Research 5, 361-389.

AOF13X5  W.F. Ruddiman, A. Esmay(1986). A streamlined foraminiferal transfer 
function for the subpolar North Atlantic. Initial Reports of the DSDP, vol XCIV.

GEOGRAPHIC REGION: Global
PERIOD OF RECORD: to 1,600,000 YBP 
LIST OF FILES: COUNTS.exe (contains  32 *.ful full count files and 
3 *.qck quick count files), SST.exe (contains 31 *.sst files of 
sst interpretations), faunal.doc, sst.doc.

DESCRIPTION:
This directory contains foraminifer census counts and SST estimates 
derived from marine sediment cores from the north Atlantic Ocean.  
The data set includes counts by Dr.'s Ruddiman, Kellogg, and 
Sancetta.  Documentation of the formats, counting methods, and SST 
transfer functions are in the files FAUNAL.DOC and SST.DOC.
  
The data files are distributed in a compressed format, and must be 
unpacked before use.  The files will require about 1.7 Megabytes of 
disk space.  The counts data files are unpacked by typing COUNTS, 
and the SST files are unpacked by typing SST.

Files with file extension .ful are full foram count files, those with 
file extension .qck are quick foram count files (see FAUNAL.DOC), and 
the .sst files contain sea surface temperature estimates.  All cores are 
from the middle to high-latitude North Atlantic Ocean (40o-65oN).  A 
few extend back only to 20,000 yrs, most span the last 100,000-
300,000 yrs, and 3 cover the last 1,600,000 yrs.  Average count 
spacing is 5-20 cm, or time steps averaging 5,000-10,000 yrs.  All are 
counts made between 1969-1990 of the planktonic foraminiferal 
population larger than 149 microns.  The majority counts are larger 
than 300 individuals; some range as low as 100.