Accumulation rates organic carbon highlight a close correlation between changes in carbon

oxidation and bottom water oxygenation that favored the return of benthic life. In such areas,
upwelling activity and related productivityexert a major control on both the oxygen content
of bottom waters and the organic carbon conten of surface sediments. Additional support is
provided by the late pleistocene record of organic carbon at ODP site 1017 off point
conception (further north along the california margin),where maxima in organic carbon
concentration are recordered in sediments which accumulated in oxygen-depleted
environtments during warm interstadial events. Organic carbon maxima coincide with
episodes of enhanced export of organic and other biogenic material from surface waters.
They indicate increased productivity and upwelling as wind intensified in respone to higher
continent or ocean thermal gradients.This pattern of sedimentation changed some 13kyr ago
after the allerd, when advection of more oxygenated intermediate waters from the california
current increased.
Dysoxic to anoxic benthic environtments may be sites where organic material is
preferentially preserved. This is generally the case in regions where organic compounds of
continental origin and or sorbed onto mineral surfaces are abundant. This is also the case in
areas of the northern california margin where labile organic compounds derived from
phytoplankton dominate. There, diatomaceous sediments containing up to 3% organic carbon
are principally derived from high productivity associated to summer upwelling conditions
driven by the southward flowing california current. Despite the presence of an oxygen
minimum zone that extends from 600 to 1200 meter water depth, oxygen contetns at all
depths are currently sufficient to support a benthic fauna and recent sediments are
bioturbated. During the late pleistocene in contrast, oxygen contents were too low to support
a benthic fauna and laminated sediments were preserved within the oxygen minimum zone