The Guaymas Basin (GB), Gulf of California (27º53’N, 111º40’W ), is an evaporative basin, with sea surface temperatures (SST) varying between ~30oC (summer) and ~15oC (winter). Productivity is controlled mostly by seasonal upwelling starting in fall (early November) and extending into spring. We are currently analyzing δ18Odiatom from a boxcore (BC-43) using microfluorination (Menicucci, et al. 2013). This boxcore was previously analyzed for UK '37 alkenones and 210Pb activity (Goni, et al. 2001). Residual BC-43 material was sampled at ~2cm intervals. Samples were cleaned to isolate diatoms from other sediments, then equilibrated in water with δ18Owater = +85‰ for 70 hours at 21oC prior to vacuum dehydroxylation and microfluorination. The latter equilibration was done to account for fractionation between covalently bound O and OH- groups during vacuum dehydroxylation, preserving the original δ18Odiatom value.

We present δ18Odiatom data from BC-43 samples covering 27cm, equivalent to >225 years of sediment accumulation. δ18O data are converted to temperature (T) based on an existing calibration (Leclerc and Labeyrie 1987). Our data suggest δ18Odiatom values record a T range of 22-18oC, corresponding to the mixed layer depth and the chlorophyll maximum during the fall bloom. These T values are offset from SST data by a mean of 5oC for the same sample intervals. However, δ18Odiatom values from the most recent samples suggest a ~2oC increase in diatom T relative to SST during the last 35 years. This subsurface warming may be due to decreased fall upwelling, increased mixed layer and chlorophyll maximum depths, and/or the timing of the peak diatom bloom. Such correlations are being investigated and the latest results will be presented.