Hole 1017E represents an essentially complete sequence of latest Quaternary climatic change since marine isotope Stage 6 (130 ka to present day) for the California Current.
Sedimentation rates are sufficiently high (average = ~18 cm/k.y.), and benthic and planktonic foraminifers are continuously abundant to provide a high-resolution paleoclimatic record for the latest Quaternary.
The benthic oxygen isotopic record is similar to that of the deep sea and includes events that have been employed to develop the age model.
An almost complete sequence of latest Quaternary D/O cycles (MIS 3 stadial/interstadial oscillations) is recorded for the first time from the open-ocean California Current, indicating that the exceptional record provided by ODP Site 893 in the Santa Barbara Basin is representative of the broader California Current system.
The sequence of D/O cycles provides additional criteria to correlate climatic change within the California Current with records elsewhere.