The reconstruction of past sea surface temperature (SST) using organic geochemical proxies has been a central theme of paleoclimatic research in recent years. Paleotemperature variability determinations in the South Atlantic are of great interest given the SST role in the global heat transport, but still requires further studies. The Cabo Frio Upwelling System (CFUS) is a particularly interesting study area for being a western boundary upwelling system subject to several peculiar oceanographic processes. This thesis aims at using organic geochemical proxies as indicators of paleotemperature, namely: the alkenoneunsaturation index (U37K), the tetraether index (TEX86 H ) and the long-chain diols index (LDI) as registered in sediments in the south-eastern Brazilian continental margin. The methylation of branched tetraether index (MBT’) and the cyclization of branched tetraether index (CBT) were also tested as potential indicators of continental mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and soil pH. There are two focuses: (i) to investigate the applicability of U37K, TEX86H and MBT’/CBT proxies under local and regional environmental conditions in the Campos Basin region using 53 surface sediments; (ii) to use a multiproxy approach (U37K, TEX86H and LDI) to reconstruct the paleotemperature during the Holocene period from two sediment cores located in the shelves adjacent to Cabo Frio and Rio de Janeiro. The results reveal that U37K and TEX86H are suitable temperature proxies for paleoclimate studies in regional scale in the SE Brazilian continental margin. Exceptions in the form of strong negative biases between reconstructed and observed mean annual SST (World Ocean Atlas 2013) were observed in the southern portion of the Campos Basin and highlight that, on a local scale, the effects of upwelling must be taken in consideration when applying these proxies to the same region. Regarding the MBT/CBT proxies, the results for most of the marine sediments agree with the upper range of soil pH and lower range of MAAT found in the adjacent drainage basin. However, the spatial distribution of the branched GDGTs points to the existence of different sources and post-depositional effects, e.g. selective degradation and in situ production, that compromise the applicability of these proxies to the marine sediments in the Campos Basin, especially more offshore. When applying the U37K, TEX86H and LDI proxies to reconstruct the SST for the past 14.5 kyr in the Rio de Janeiro core and 7.1 kyr in the Cabo Frio core, the variations observed agreed with several pre-existing paleoclimatic data for the same region and period. In the Rio de Janeiro shelf, a distinct phase before 7.5 cal kyr BP coincides with the period when the sea level was low and gradually increased. In the Cabo Frio shelf, the transition between mid- and late Holocene is well marked by a warming in SST-U37K and SST-LDI, probably related to a more intense Brazil Current (BC) activity over the shelf, whereas temp-TEX86H showed an opposite cooling trend that may be a result of the subsurface upwelling of the cold South Atlantic Central Waters. A decrease in reconstructed temperatures after ca 2.5 kyr BP may be related to the establishment of the CFUS to modern conditions. Differences between Rio de Janeiro and Cabo Frio can be explained by the local instabilities of the BC near de CFUS region. Overall, for the entire covered period in both sediment cores, SST-LDI was warmer, SST-TEX86H was clearly biase towards colder subsurface temperatures and SST-U37K was the most affected by the sea level variation and BC flow. The differences between the proxies signal provided valuable information about the local paleoceanographic changes during the Holocene period, contributing to the paleoclimatology studies in the southeastern Brazilian margin.