Oceanic sediment cores are commonly used to understand past climates. The composition of the sediments changes with the ocean above it. An understanding of oceanographic conditions that existed many thousands of years ago, in some cases many millions of years ago, can therefore be extracted from sediment cores. We simulate two chemical signatures (¹³C and ¹⁵N) of sediment cores in a model. This study assesses the model before it is applied to reinterpret the sedimentary record.