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This study provides a detailed reconstruction of cold-water coral mound build-up within the East Melilla Coral Province (southeastern Alboran Sea), more precisely at the northern part of Brittlestar Ridge I, over the last 300 kyr. The multiproxy investigation of core MD13-3462G reveals that mound build-up took place during both interglacial and glacial periods at average aggradation rates ranging between 1 and 10 cm kyr(-1). These observations imply that corals never thrived but rather developed under stressful environmental conditions. Maximum aggradation rates of 18 cm kyr(-1) are recorded during the last glacial period, hence providing the first evidence of coral mound development during this time period in the western Mediterranean. The planktonic (Globigerina bulloides) and benthic (Lobatula lobatula) delta O-18 records from core MD13-3462G show typical interglacial-glacial variations during the last two interglacial-glacial cycles. This is in contrast with delta O-18 records generally recovered from coral mounds and highlights that the northern part of Brittlestar Ridge I experienced reduced albeit relatively continuous accretion. High abundances of infaunal benthic foraminifera (Bulimina marginata, Bulimina striata, and Uvigerina mediterranea) suggest that weak seafloor oxygenation associated with important terrestrial organic matter input characterized interglacial periods, whilst the dominance of large epibenthic species (Discanomalina coronata and Lobatula lobatula) and Miliolids is probably linked to stronger Levantine Intermediate Water circulation and fresher organic matter input during glacial periods. In addition, the computed tomography (CT) quantification of macrofaunal remains shows that the bryozoan Buskea dichotoma is present throughout the entire 300 kyr of mound build-up history, with the exception of MIS 5, and is possibly a key contributor to mound development during glacial periods. The comparison of our observations to other long-term coral mound records demonstrates that western and central Mediterranean coral mounds do not show concurrent build-up over interglacial-glacial cycles, implying that their development may be driven by regional and local environmental forcing. Climate of the Past, 18 (8) ISSN:1814-9332 ISSN:1814-9324

Antarctic sea ice is a critical component of the climate system, affecting a range of physical and biogeochemical feedbacks, and supporting unique ecosystems. During the last glacial stage, Antarctic sea ice was more extensive than today, but uncertainties in geological (marine sediments), glaciological (ice core), and climate model reconstructions of past sea-ice extent continue to limit our understanding of its role in the Earth system. Here, we present a novel archive of past sea-ice environments from regurgitated stomach oils of snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea), preserved at nesting sites in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. We show that by combining information from fatty acid distributions and their stable carbon isotope ratios with measurements of bulk carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes and trace metal data, it is possible to reconstruct changing snow petrel diet within Marine Isotope Stage 2 (ca. 22.6–28.8 cal. kyr BP). We show that, as today, a mixed diet of krill and fish characterises much of the record. However, between 25.7–26.8 cal. kyr BP signals of krill almost disappear. By linking dietary signals in the stomach-oil deposits to modern feeding habits and foraging ranges, we infer the use by snow petrels of open water habitats (‘polynyas’) in the sea ice during our interval of study. The periods when consumption of krill was reduced are interpreted to correspond to the opening of polynyas over the continental shelf, which became the preferred foraging habitat. Our results challenge hypotheses that the development of extensive, thick, multi-year sea-ice close to the continent was a key driver of positive sea ice-climate feedbacks during glacial stages, and highlight the potential of stomach-oil deposits as a palaeo-environmental archive of Southern Ocean conditions.

Changes in Southern Ocean export production have broad biogeochemical and climatic implications. Specifically, iron fertilization likely increased subantarctic nutrient utilization and enhanced the efficiency of the biological pump during glacials. However, past export production in the subantarctic southeastern Pacific is poorly documented, and its connection to Fe fertilization, potentially related to Patagonian Ice Sheet dynamics, is unknown. We report biological productivity changes over the past 400 kyr, based on a combination of 230Thxs-normalized and stratigraphy-based mass accumulation rates of biogenic barium, organic carbon, biogenic opal and calcium carbonate as indicators of paleo-export production in a sediment core upstream of the Drake Passage (57.5∘ S, 70.3∘ W). In addition, we use fluxes of iron and lithogenic material as proxies for terrigenous input, and thus potential micronutrient supply. Stratigraphy-based mass accumulation rates are strongly influenced by bottom-current dynamics, which result in variable sediment focussing or winnowing at our site. Carbonate is virtually absent in the core, except during peak interglacial intervals of the Holocene, and Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5 and 11, likely caused by transient decreases in carbonate dissolution. All other proxies suggest that export production increased during most glacial periods, coinciding with high iron fluxes. Such augmented glacial iron fluxes at the core site were most likely derived from glaciogenic input from the Patagonian Ice Sheet promoting the growth of phytoplankton. Additionally, glacial export production peaks are also consistent with northward shifts of the Subantarctic and Polar Fronts, which positioned our site south of the Subantarctic Front and closer to silicic acid-rich waters of the Polar Frontal Zone. However, glacial export production near the Drake Passage was lower than in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean, which may relate to complete consumption of silicic acid in the study area. Our results underline the importance of micro-nutrient fertilization through lateral terrigenous input from South America rather than eolian transport and exemplify the role of frontal shifts and nutrient limitation for past productivity changes in the Pacific entrance to the Drake Passage.

The role and climatic impact of the opening of the Drake Passage and how it affected both marine and terrestrial environments across the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT ∼34 Ma) period remains poorly understood. Here we present new terrestrial palynomorph data compared with recently compiled lipid biomarker (n-alkane) data from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 113, Site 696, drilled on the margin of the South Orkney Microcontinent (SOM) in the Weddell Sea, to investigate changes in terrestrial environments and palaeoclimate across the late Eocene and early Oligocene (∼37.6-32.2 Ma). Early late Eocene floras and sporomorph-based climate estimates reveal Nothofagus-dominated forests growing under wet temperate conditions, with mean annual temperature (MAT) and precipitation (MAP) around 12 C and 1802 mm respectively. A phase of latest Eocene terrestrial cooling at 35.5 Ma reveals a decrease in MAT by around 1.4 C possibly linked to the opening of the Powell Basin. This is followed by an increase in reworked Mesozoic sporomorphs together with sedimentological evidence indicating ice expansion to coastal and shelf areas approximately 34.1 Myr ago. However, major changes to the terrestrial vegetation at Site 696 did not take place until the early Oligocene, where there is a distinct expansion of gymnosperms and cryptogams accompanied by a rapid increase in taxon diversity and a shift in terrestrial biomarkers reflecting a change from temperate forests to cool temperate forests following 33.5 Ma. This surprising expansion of gymnosperms and cryptogams is suggested to be linked to environmental disturbance caused by repeat glacial expansion and retreat, which facilitated the proliferation of conifers and ferns. The timing of glacial onset at Site 696 is linked to the global cooling at the EOT, yet the latest Eocene regional cooling cannot directly be linked to the observed vegetation changes. Therefore, our vegetation record provides further evidence that the opening of the Drake Passage and Antarctic glaciation were not contemporaneous, although stepwise cooling in response to the opening of ocean gateways surrounding the Antarctic continent may have occurred prior to the EOT. Nick Thompson received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council from a NERC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership ONE Planet (grant no. NE/S007512/1). Funding for this research was also provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant nos. CTM2014-60451-C2- 1/2-P and CTM2017-89711-C2-1/2-P) cofunded by the European Union through FEDER funds. Peter K. Bijl received funding from the European Research Council (OceaNice (grant no. 802835)). This work used Deep Sea Drilling Project archived samples provided by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). We thank the staff at the Gulf Coast core repository (GCR) for assistance in ODP Leg 113 core handling and shipping. We thank CNRS for the salary support of MAS Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CTM2014-60451-C2- 1/2-P, CTM2017-89711-C2-1/2-P Natural Environment Research Council European Regional Development Fund European Research Council 802835 NERC-funded NE/S007512/1 European Commission

The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is a widely recognized global climate shift occurring between approximately 1250 and 700 ka. At this time, Earth's climate underwent a major transition from dominant 40 kyr glacial–interglacial cycles to quasi-100 kyr cycles. The cause of the MPT remains a puzzling aspect of Pleistocene climate. Presently, there are few, if any, continuous MPT records from the Arctic, yet understanding the role and response of the high latitudes to the MPT is required to better evaluate the causes of this climatic shift. Here, we present new continental biomarker records of temperature and vegetation spanning 1142 to 752 ka from Lake El'gygytgyn (Far East Russia). We reconstruct warm-season temperature variations across the MPT based on branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs). The new Arctic temperature record does not display an overall cooling trend during the MPT but does exhibit strong glacial–interglacial cyclicity. Spectral analysis demonstrates persistent obliquity and precession pacing over the study interval and reveals substantial sub-orbital temperature variations at ∼900 ka during the first “skipped” interglacial. Interestingly, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 31, which is widely recognized as a particularly warm interglacial, does not exhibit exceptional warmth in the Lake El'gygytgyn brGDGT record. Instead, we find that MIS 29, 27, and 21 were as warm or warmer than MIS 31. In particular, MIS 21 (∼870 to 820 ka) stands out as an especially warm and long interglacial in the continental Arctic while MIS 25 is a notably cold interglacial. Throughout the MPT, Lake El'gygytgyn pollen data exhibit a long-term drying trend, with a shift to an increasingly open landscape noted after around 900 ka (Zhao et al., 2018), which is also reflected in our higher plant leaf wax (n-alkane) distributions. Although the mechanisms driving the MPT remain a matter of debate, our new climate records from the continental Arctic exhibit some similarities to changes noted around the North Pacific region. Overall, the new organic geochemical data from Lake El'gygytgyn contribute to expanding our knowledge of the high-latitude response to the MPT.