Gulf of Aden DSDP Site 231 Pliocene to late Pleistocene Biomarker Data Liddy, H.M.; Feakins, S.J.; Tierney, J.E. Liddy, H.M. Feakins, S.J. Tierney, J.E. earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (notes,null,null,null,null,paleoceanography,null,null,C,* indicates n-C30 data from Feakins et al. 2005 and Feakins et al. 2013) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 13C,C30 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VPDB,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 13C,C28 n-alkanoic acid,one standard deviation,per mil,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,standard deviation of replicates; leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (depth,null,null,meter,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 13C,C30 n-alkanoic acid,one standard deviation,per mil,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,standard deviation of replicates; leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 2H,C28 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VSMOW,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|paleoceanography (sea water temperature,glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether index,one standard deviation upper bound,degree Celsius,null,climate reconstructions|paleoceanography,null,null,N,using BAYSPAR subsurface calibration (Tierney and Tingley 2015); based on TEX86) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (tetraether index of 86 carbon atoms,null,null,dimensionless,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|paleoceanography (sea water temperature,glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether index,one standard deviation lower bound,degree Celsius,null,climate reconstructions|paleoceanography,null,null,N,using BAYSPAR subsurface calibration (Tierney and Tingley 2015); based on TEX86) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 13C,C28 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VPDB,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 13C,C32 n-alkanoic acid,one standard deviation,per mil,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,standard deviation of replicates; leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (branched and isoprenoid tetraether index,null,null,dimensionless,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,ratio of branched glycerol dialkyl gycerol tetraethers to aquatic isoprenoidal GDGT crenarchaeol) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|paleoceanography (sea water temperature,glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether index,null,degree Celsius,null,climate reconstructions|paleoceanography,null,null,N,Mean calibrated subsurface ocean temperature from TEX86 using BAYSPAR subsurface calibration (Tierney and Tingley 2015)) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (age,null,null,million years ago,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 2H,C28 n-alkanoic acid,one standard deviation,per mil,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,standard deviation of replicates; leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleoceanography (delta 13C,C32 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VPDB,null,paleoceanography,null,null,N,leaf wax interpretation) earth science/paleoclimate/paleocean earth science/paleoclimate/paleocean (DSDP 231>LATITUDE 11.89>LONGITUDE 48.25) Terrestrial records suggest that Northeast Africa experienced drying during the Pliocene; however, these records are often incomplete in time and space, and questions about this shift in climate remain. Here, we use marine sediments from Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 231 in the Gulf of Aden to generate a multi-proxy organic geochemical record of northeast African climate spanning 5.3-2 Ma. This new record provides a regional perspective on climate and serves as context for the fossil record of early hominin evolution. We measured leaf wax carbon (d13Cwax) and hydrogen (dDwax) isotopic composition and TEX86 (tetraether index of 86 carbons) to investigate past changes in vegetation, aridity, and ocean temperature, respectively. In the earliest Pliocene, we infer warm subsurface ocean temperatures from TEX86, semi-arid conditions on land and extensive C4 grasslands based on dDwax, d13Cwax and previously published pollen. After 5 Ma, ocean temperatures gradually cooled, and at 4.3 Ma there was a transition to arid conditions on land based on dDwax and pollen. Grasslands yielded to a mid Pliocene landscape of dry shrublands. This drying appears to be an atmospheric response to cooling ocean temperatures, which may reflect changes in tropical ocean circulation, the intensification of Indian Monsoon winds or perhaps other changes associated with Pliocene cooling. STUDY NOTES: Plio-Pleistocene records of leaf wax carbon and hydrogen isotopes from a marine sediment core from the Gulf of Aden are used to assess changes in vegetation and aridity across the Horn of Africa. During the same interval, Gulf of Aden TEX86 values reflects subsurface ocean temperatures, and BIT index values are used to assess the GDGT contribution from soils. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Liddy, H.M. Investigator : Feakins, S.J. Investigator : Tierney, J.E. 2016-08-23 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/20145 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016tex86.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016d2h.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016d13c.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016tex86.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016d2h.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016d13c.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/20145 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016tex86.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016d2h.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/contributions_by_author/liddy2016/liddy2016d13c.txt Hannah M. Liddy, Sarah J. Feakins, Jessica E. Tierney2016Cooling and drying in northeast Africa across the PlioceneEarth and Planetary Science Letters449430-43810.1016/j.epsl.2016.05.005http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X1630214X START YEAR: 5249000 cal yr BP * END YEAR: 2001000 cal yr BP 48.25 11.89 48.25 11.89