The California Current and associated coastal upwelling have changed with the growth and decay of the North American ice sheets since 2.5 Ma. Because the coastal upwelling has a close relationship with biogenic productivity in surface water, analyses of biogenic components in sediments of the upwelling region enable us to reconstruct the past changes of the productivity and/or the current systems.In this study, we analyzed biogenic silica and carbonate as well as organic carbon in sediments from the northern California margin, Hole 1020B. The results show that terrigenous-free content of biogenic silica is high during interglacial periods since 800 ka and varies in correspondence with 100-k.y. glacial-interglacial cycles. On the other hand, terrigenous-free content of biogenic carbonate is high during glacial periods. These temporal variations may have been caused by changes in the origin of deep water.