Description: It contains three tables that correspond to the supplementary information of the article mentioned above. Tables S3 and S4 can be found within the Supplementary Information document. Table S1 contains high-resolution bulk and benthic carbon and oxygen stable isotope data from ODP Hole 702B across the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (40 Ma). Table S2 contains benthic foraminiferal data (relative abundance and ecology index) and accumulation rates from ODP Hole 702B across the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (40 Ma). Table S5 contains middle Eocene ODP Hole 702B XRF core scanning data, high-resolution bulk and benthic carbon and oxygen stable isotope data from ODP Site 1263 and age model correlation tie points between drill sites for ODP Sites 1263, 738 and 702B as well tie points for a detailed astronomical age model for ODP Site 1263 (La2010b solution).

Description: Recognizing and deciphering transient global warming events triggered by massive release of carbon into Earth's ocean-atmosphere climate system in the past are important for understanding climate under elevated pCO2 conditions. Here we present new high-resolution geochemical records including benthic foraminiferal stable isotope data with clear evidence of a short-lived (30 kyr) warming event at 41.52 Ma. The event occurs in the late Lutetian within magnetochron C19r and is characterized by a ~2°C warming of the deep ocean in the southern South Atlantic. The magnitudes of the carbon and oxygen isotope excursions of the Late Lutetian Thermal Maximum are comparable to the H2 event (53.6 Ma) suggesting a similar response of the climate system to carbon cycle perturbations even in an already relatively cooler climate several million years after the Early Eocene Climate Optimum. Coincidence of the event with exceptionally high insolation values in the Northern Hemisphere at 41.52 Ma might indicate that Earth's climate system has a thermal threshold. When this tipping point is crossed, rapid positive feedback mechanisms potentially trigger transient global warming. The orbital configuration in this case could have caused prolonged warm and dry season leading to a massive release of terrestrial carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system initiating environmental change.

Description: Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) Site 982 represents a key location for understanding the evolution of climate in the North Atlantic over the past 12 Ma. However, concerns exist about the validity and robustness of the underlying stratigraphy and astrochronology, which currently limits the adequacy of this site for high-resolution climate studies. To resolve this uncertainty, we verify and extend the early Pliocene to late Miocene shipboard composite splice at Site 982 using high-resolution XRF core scanning data and establish a robust high-resolution stable isotope stratigraphy and astrochronology between 4.5 and 8.0 Ma. Splice revisions and verifications resulted in ~11 m of gaps in the original Site 982 isotope stratigraphy. Our new stratigraphy reveals previously unseen benthic d18O excursions, particularly prior to 6.65 Ma. The benthic d18O record displays distinct, asymmetric cycles between 7.7 and 6.65 Ma, confirming that high-latitude climate is a prevalent forcing during this interval. An intensification of the 41-kyr beat in both the benthic d13C and d18O is also observed ~6.4 Ma, marking a strengthening in the cryosphere-carbon cycle coupling. A large ~0.7 per mil double excursion is revealed ~6.4-6.3 Ma, which also marks the onset an interval of average higher d18O and large precession and obliquity-dominated d18O excursions between 6.4-5.4 Ma, coincident with the culmination of the late Miocene cooling. The two largest benthic d18O excursions ~6.4-6.3 Ma and TG20/22 coincide with the coolest alkenone-derived SST estimates from Site 982, suggesting a strong connection between the late Miocene global cooling and deep-sea cooling and dynamic ice sheet expansion. The splice revisions and revised astrochronology resolve key stratigraphic issues that have hampered correlation between Site 982, the equatorial Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Comparisons of the revised Site 982 stratigraphy to high-resolution astronomically tuned benthic d18O stratigraphies from ODP Site 926 (equatorial Atlantic) and Ain el Beida (north western Morocco) show that prior inconsistencies in short-term excursions are now resolved. The identification of key new cycles at Site 982 further highlights the requirement for the current scheme for late Miocene marine isotope stages to be redefined. Our new integrated deep-sea benthic stable isotope stratigraphy and astrochronology from Site 982 will facilitate future high-resolution late Miocene to early Pliocene climate research.

Description: The Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene is the most recent period of Earth history that experienced sustained global greenhouse warmth and was characterised by a dynamic carbon cycle. Yet, knowledge of ambient climate conditions and the evolution of atmospheric pCO2 at this time, along with their relation to forcing mechanisms, are still poorly constrained. Here we present an unprecedented 14.75 million year long high-resolution orbitally-tuned record of paired climate change and carbon-cycling (based on the oxygen and carbon isotope composition of benthic foraminiferal tests) compiled to date for the enigmatic Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene, and compare these records to the most up-to-date compilation of atmospheric pCO2 records for this time. We identify eccentricity as the dominant pacemaker of the observed climate and carbon cycle changes, through the modulation of precession. The carbon cycle (e.g., d13C) lagged changes in climate by ~22,800 years within the long eccentricity (405,000 year) band and ~3,000-4,500 years within the short eccentricity (100,000 year) band, suggesting that light carbon was released as a positive feedback to warming induced by small changes in orbital forcing. The majority of the hyperthermals of this time period occur during maxima in the long eccentricity cycle, with the exception of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and Late Maastrichtian warming event, which are likely to have been triggered by Large Igneous Province volcanism.

Description: The Paleocene - Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 56 Ma) was a phase of rapid global warming associated with massive carbon input into the ocean-atmosphere system from a 13C-depleted reservoir. Many mid- and high-latitude sections have been studied and document changes in salinity, hydrology and sedimentation, deoxygenation, biotic overturning and migrations, but detailed records from tropical regions are lacking. Here, we study the PETM at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 959 in the equatorial Atlantic using a range of organic and inorganic proxies and couple these with dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) assemblage analysis. The PETM at Site 959 was previously found to be marked by a ~3.8 per mil negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE), and a ~4 ºC surface ocean warming from the uppermost Paleocene to peak PETM, of which ~1 ºC occurs before the onset of the CIE. We record upper Paleocene dinocyst assemblages that are similar to PETM assemblages as found in extra-tropical regions, confirming poleward migrations of ecosystems during the PETM. The early stages of the PETM are marked by a typical acme of the tropical genus Apectodinium, which reaches abundances of up to 95 %. Subsequently, dinocyst abundances diminish greatly, as do carbonate and pyritized silicate microfossils. The combined paleoenvironmental information from Site 959 and a close by shelf site in Nigeria implies the general absence of eukaryotic surface-dwelling microplankton during peak PETM warmth is most likely caused by heat stress. Crucially, abundant organic benthic foraminiferal linings imply sustained export production, likely driven by prokaryotes. In sharp contrast, the recovery of the CIE yields rapid (〈〈10 kyr) fluctuations in the abundance of several dinocyst groups, suggesting extreme ecosystem and environmental variability.

Description: The late Miocene-early Pliocene was a time of global cooling and the development of modern meridional thermal gradients. Equatorial Pacific sea surface conditions potentially played an important role in this global climate transition, but their evolution is poorly understood. Here, we present the first continuous late Miocene-early Pliocene (8.0-4.4 Ma) planktic foraminiferal stable isotope records from eastern equatorial Pacific Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1338, with a new astrochronology spanning 8.0-3.5 Ma. Mg/Ca analyses on surface dwelling foraminifera Trilobatus sacculifer from carefully selected samples suggest mean sea-surface-temperatures (SSTs) are ~27.8±1.1°C (1 Sigma) between 6.4-5.5 Ma. The planktic foraminiferal d18O record implies a 2°C cooling between 7.2-6.1 Ma and an up to 3°C warming between 6.1-4.4 Ma, consistent with observed tropical alkenone paleo-SSTs. Diverging fine-fraction-to-foraminiferal d13C gradients likely suggest increased upwelling from 7.1-6.0 and 5.8-4.6 Ma, concurrent with the globally recognized late Miocene Biogenic Bloom. This study shows that both warm and asymmetric mean states occurred in the equatorial Pacific during the late Miocene-early Pliocene. Between 8.0-6.5 and 5.2-4.4 Ma, low east-west d18O and SST gradients and generally warm conditions prevailed. However, an asymmetric mean climate state developed between 6.5-5.7 Ma, with larger east-west d18O and SST gradients and eastern equatorial Pacific cooling. The asymmetric mean state suggests stronger trade winds developed, driven by increased meridional thermal gradients associated with global cooling and declining atmospheric pCO2 concentrations. These oscillations in equatorial Pacific mean state are reinforced by Antarctic cryosphere expansion and related changes in oceanic gateways (e.g., Central American Seaway/Indonesian Throughflow restriction).

Description: Accurate age control of the late Tortonian to early Messinian (8.3-6.0 Ma) is essential to ascertain the origin of benthic foraminiferal d18O trends and the late Miocene carbon isotope shift (LMCIS), and to examine temporal relationships between the deep-sea, terrasphere and cryosphere. The current Tortonian-Messinian Geological Time Scale (GTS2012) is based on astronomically calibrated Mediterranean sections; however, no comparable non-Mediterranean stratigraphies exist for 8-6 Ma suitable for testing the GTS2012. Here, we present the first high-resolution, astronomically tuned benthic stable isotope stratigraphy (1.5 kyr resolution) and magnetostratigraphy from a single deep-sea location (IODP Site U1337, equatorial Pacific Ocean), which provides unprecedented insight into climate evolution from 8.3-6.0 Ma. The astronomically calibrated magnetostratigraphy provides robust ages, which differ by 2-50 kyr relative to the GTS2012 for polarity Chrons C3An.1n to C4r.1r, and eliminates the exceptionally high South Atlantic spreading rates based on the GTS2012 during Chron C3Bn. We show that the LMCIS was globally synchronous within 2 kyr, and provide astronomically calibrated ages anchored to the GPTS for its onset (7.537 Ma; 50% from base Chron C4n.1n) and termination (6.727 Ma; 11% from base Chron C3An.2n), confirming that the terrestrial C3:C4 shift could not have driven the LMCIS. The benthic records show that the transition into the 41-kyr world, when obliquity strongly influenced climate variability, already occurred at 7.7 Ma and further strengthened at 6.4 Ma. Previously unseen, distinctive, asymmetric saw-tooth patterns in benthic d18O imply that high-latitude forcing played an important role in late Miocene climate dynamics from 7.7-6.9 Ma. This new integrated deep-sea stratigraphy from Site U1337 can act as a new stable isotope and magnetic polarity reference section for the 8.3-6.0 Ma interval.

Description: A consistent chronostratigraphic framework is required to understand the effect of major paleoclimate perturbations on both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Transient global warming events in the early Eocene, 56-54 Ma ago, show the impact of large scale carbon input into the ocean-atmosphere system. Here we provide the first time-scale synchronization of continental and marine deposits spanning the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and the interval just prior to the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM-2). Cyclic variations in geochemical data come from continental drill cores of the Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP, Wyoming, USA) and from marine deep-sea drilling deposits retrieved by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). Both are dominated by eccentricity modulated precession cycles used to construct a common cyclostratigraphic framework. Integration of age models results in a revised astrochronology for the PETM in deep-sea records that is now generally consistent with independent 3He age models. The duration of the PETM is estimated at ~200 kyr for the CIE and ~120 kyr for the associated pelagic clay layer. A common terrestrial and marine age model shows a concurrent major change in marine and terrestrial biotas ~200 kyr before ETM-2. In the Bighorn Basin, the change is referred to as Biohorizon B, and represents a period of significant mammalian turnover and immigration, separating the upper Haplomylus-Ectocion Range Zone from the Bunophorus Interval Zone and approximating the Wa-4-Wa-5 land mammal zone boundary. In sediments from ODP Site 1262 (Walvis Ridge), major changes in the biota at this time are documented by the radiation of a "2nd generation" of apical spine-bearing sphenoliths species (e.g., S. radians and S. editus), the emergence of T. orthostylus, and the marked decline of D. multiradiatus.

Description: Coherent variation of CaCO3 burial is a feature of the Cenozoic eastern equatorial Pacific. Nevertheless, there has been a long-standing ambiguity whether changes in CaCO3 dissolution or changes in equatorial primary production might cause the variability. Since productivity and dissolution leave distinctive regional signals, a regional synthesis of data using updated age models and high-resolution stratigraphic correlation is an important constraint to distinguish between dissolution and production as factors that cause low CaCO3. Furthermore the new chronostratigraphy is an important foundation for future paleoceanographic studies. The ability to distinguish between primary production and dissolution is also important to establish a regional carbonate compensation depth (CCD). We report late Miocene to recent time series of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) derived bulk sediment composition and mass accumulation rates (MAR) from eastern equatorial Pacific Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Sites U1335, U1337, U1338 and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 849, and also report bulk density derived CaCO3 MAR at ODP Sites 848, 850 and 851. We use physical properties, XRF bulk chemical scans, and images along with available chronostratrigraphy to inter-correlate records in depth space. We then apply a new equatorial Pacific age model to create correlated age records for the last 8 Myr with resolutions of 1-2 kyr. Large magnitude changes in CaCO3 and bio-SiO2 (biogenic opal) MAR occurred within that time period but clay deposition has remained relatively constant, indicating that changes in Fe deposition from dust is only a secondary feedback to equatorial productivity. Because clay deposition is relatively constant, ratios of CaCO3 % or biogenic SiO2 % to clay emulate changes of biogenic MAR. We define 5 major Plio-Pleistocene Low CaCO3 % (PPLC) intervals since 5.3 Ma. Two were caused primarily by high bio-SiO2 burial that diluted CaCO3 (PPLC-2—1685-2135 ka, and PPLC-5—4465-4737 ka), while 3 were caused by enhanced dissolution of CaCO3 (PPLC-1—51-402 ka, PPLC-3—2248-2684 ka, and PPLC-4—2915-4093 ka). Regional patterns of CaCO3 % minima can distinguish between low CaCO3 caused by high diatom bio-SiO2 dilution versus lows caused by high CaCO3 dissolution. CaCO3 dissolution can be confirmed through scanning XRF measurements of Ba. High diatom production causes lowest CaCO3 % within the equatorial high productivity zone, while higher dissolution causes lowest CaCO3 at higher latitudes where CaCO3 production is lower. The two diatom production intervals, PPLC-2 and PPLC-5, have different geographic footprints from each other because of regional changes in eastern Pacific nutrient storage after the closure of the Panama Seaway. Because of the regional variability in carbonate production and sedimentation, the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) approach is only useful to examine large changes in CaCO3 dissolution. Tables SM-1 to SM-7: splice tables used for the 7 ODP and IODP drill sites in this study Tables SM-8 to SM-13: Chronostratigraphic depth ties among the drill sites. Tables SM-14 to SM-17: Age models for each drill site and age-depth ties at each site. Tables SM-18 to SM-23: scanning XRF data for 4 drill sites, and opal calibration data for Site 849 Tables SM-24 to SM-27: CaCO3 % estimated from Gamma Ray measured density for ODP Sites 848, 849, 850, and 851 Tables SM-28 to SM-34: Mass Accumulation Rates (MAR) for the 7 drill sites Tables SM-35 to SM-37: calculations of CCD from CaCO3 MAR

Description: The interval spanning from the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) to the onset of long-term cooling in the middle Eocene is marked by prominent changes in calcareous nannofossil assemblages and coincides with modification of the North Atlantic deep-ocean circulation. Here we present an integrated calcareous nannoplakton and bulk stable isotope records (δ18O and δ13C) across the early-middle Eocene (~52- 43 Ma) from IODP Site U1410 (northwest Atlantic), where middle Eocene deposits occur as clay-rich drift sediments reflecting the formation of persistent deep currents. Abundance patterns of selected biostratigraphically relevant taxa encompassing Ypresian-Lutetian calcareous nannofossil Zones CNE4-CNE12 served to test the biostratigraphic reliability of the species. In addition, long- and short-term trends documented in geochemical data have been used to determine the temporal relationships between palaeoenvironmental trends and changes in calcareous nannofossil assemblages. After the EECO to the Ypresian-Lutetian boundary, calcareous nannofossils switched from an assemblage mainly composed of warm-water and oligotrophic taxa (Zygrhablithus, Discoaster, Sphenolithus, Coccolithus) to one dominated by the more temperate and eutrophic reticulofenestrids. This prominent change occurred during a phase of relatively high δ18O values likely related to the post-EECO cooling. Although the dominance of reticulofenestrids persisted unvaried throughout the study middle Eocene interval, early Lutetian stable isotope records indicate a reversal in the paleoenvironmetal trends suggesting a temporary restoration of warmer conditions associated with an increase in abundance of D. sublodoensis. These results confirm previous records of environmental instability but the comparison of our results with different dataset highlights a global enigmatic scenario in term of bio-chemo-magnetostratigraphy.