[4] Its unique geography and undisturbed sediment record provides an excellent history of tropical climate change and is particularly sensitive to shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) [5] and has been the subject of extensive paleoclimatological research, amongst other sedimentological studies,[6][7][8] geochemical studies, with alkenones,[9] Mg/Ca,[10] and micropaleontological, with foraminifera,[11][12] pollen and spores,[13] dinocysts[14][15] and coccoliths.

Bacteria inhabit both the oxic and anoxic portions of the water column, with a maximum around the interface where oxygen disappears.

Since 1995, an international (Venezuela and United States) program has expanded the research in the basin.

The CARIACO (Carbon Retention in a Colored Ocean; [1] Archived 2013-12-06 at the Wayback Machine) program consists of a time series station in the eastern deep of the basin which is visited on a monthly basis to collect hydrographic, nutrient and primary productivity measurements.

[21] The seasonal upwelling cycle and sea surface temperature changes are linked to the intensity of the trade winds, and cause events of high primary production that support a very high biomass of plankton, fish, and marine birds and mammals.