Alkenone sea surface temperature estimates of sediment core M40/4_SL87, Balearic Rise, Western Mediterranean Sea

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.