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Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 982 provided a key sediment section at Rockall Plateau for reconstructing northeast Atlantic paleoceanography and monitoring benthic &dgr;18O stratigraphy over the late Pliocene to Quaternary onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation. A renewed holespecific inspection of magnetostratigraphic reversals and the addition of epibenthic &dgr;18O records for short Pliocene sections in holes 982A, B, and C, crossing core breaks in the &dgr;18O record published for Hole 982B, now imply a major revision of composite core depths. After tuning to the orbitally tuned reference record LR04, the new composite &dgr;18O record results in a hiatus, where the Kaena magnetic subchron might have been lost, and in a significant age reduction for all proxy records by 130 to 20 ky over the time span 3.2-2.7 million years ago (Ma). Our study demonstrates the general significance of reliable composite-depth scales and &dgr;18O stratigraphies in ODP sediment records for generating ocean-wide correlations in paleoceanography. The new concept of age control makes the late Pliocene trends in SST (sea surface temperature) and atmospheric pCO2 at Site 982 more consistent with various paleoclimate trends published from elsewhere in the North Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]