Analysis of sediment cores GC-01A taken during the CONTOURIBER-1 expedition in Gulf of Cadiz

Core GC-01A was collected during the Contouriber-I cruise in the northern Gulf of Cadiz, bathed by the well-established northern Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) current along the Iberian margin; this site was a contrasting reference site to discuss the possibility of the saline upper branch of the MOW diverging southwards along the Moroccan margin (core MVSEIS08-TG-2). GC-01A-TC (0.87 m) and GC-01A-PC (5.21 m) consist of trigger and gravity cores from the same site, with both sections connected by a time gap at 8-9 ka. The contourite records cover the time interval from the Last Glacial Maximum (22 ka) through the last deglaciation to the Holocene (GC-01A). New datasets of current velocity (sortable silt) and water mass origin (O and C isotopes of benthic foraminifera) define the intensity of the MOW as contourite deposits, together with element ratios (XRF-scan) and physical properties of the sediment. O and C isotopes of planktonic foraminifera, foraminiferal species and sea surface temperature (simmax.28 transfer function) were used to determine millennial climate changes during the last deglaciation.