We investigate the response of the calcite lysocline to changes in the export production of the low-latitude surface ocean (the combined equatorial, tropical, and subtropical regions). We employ different CaCO3 throughput schemes in a time-dependent ocean carbon cycle model to separate the CaCO3 production/lysocline balance from the other components of the model response and to estimate the effect of dissolution driven by organic matter decomposition in surface sediments. With this model, we carry out three experiments based on previous hypotheses for the cause of glacial/interglacial atmospheric CO2 variations: (1) a simple increase in low-latitude production, (2) a decrease in its CaCO3/organic carbon rain ratio, and (3) an increase in the depth of organic carbon regeneration. None of these changes, when taken alone, can lower atmospheric CO2 to glacial levels without violating observations of the glacial lysocline depth. If a low-latitude production increase were accompanied by a decrease in the CaCO3/organic carbon rain ratio, then these simultaneous changes could lower atmospheric CO2 to observed glacial levels without causing a significant change in the ocean-average depth of the lysocline. However, even with these simultaneous changes, the required increase in production is 50% or more of the modern rate of production. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union