Description: We examine the paleoceanographic record over the last ∼400 kyr derived from major, trace, and rare earth elements in bulk sediment from two sites in the East China Sea drilled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 346. We use multivariate statistical partitioning techniques (Q‐mode factor analysis, multiple linear regression) to identify and quantify five crustal source components (Upper Continental Crust (UCC), Luochuan Loess, Xiashu Loess, Southern Japanese Islands, Kyushu Volcanics), and model their mass accumulation rates (MARs). UCC (35–79% of terrigenous contribution) and Luochuan Loess (16–55% contribution) are the most abundant end‐members through time, while Xiashu Loess, Southern Japanese Islands, and Kyushu Volcanics (1–22% contribution) are the lowest in abundance when present. Cycles in UCC and Luochuan Loess MARs may indicate continental and loess‐like material transported by major rivers into the Okinawa Trough. Increases in sea level and grain size proxy (e.g., SiO2/Al2O3) are coincident with increased flux of Southern Japanese Islands, indicating localized sediment supply from Japan. Increases in total terrigenous MAR precede minimum relative sea levels by several thousand years and may indicate remobilization of continental shelf material. Changes in the relative contribution of these end‐members are decoupled from total MAR, indicating compositional changes in the sediment are distinct from accumulation rate changes but may be linked to variations in sea level, riverine and eolian fluxes, and shelf‐bypass processes over glacial‐interglacials, complicating accurate monsoon reconstructions from fluvial dominated sediment.

Description: We reconstruct the provenance of aluminosilicate sediment deposited in Ulleung Basin, Japan Sea, over the last 12 Ma at Site U1430 drilled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 346. Using multivariate partitioning techniques (Q-mode factor analysis, multiple linear regressions) applied to the major, trace and rare earth element composition of the bulk sediment, we identify and quantify four aluminosilicate components (Taklimakan, Gobi, Chinese Loess and Korean Peninsula), and model their mass accumulation rates. Each of these end-members, or materials from these regions, were present in the top-performing models in all tests. Material from the Taklimakan Desert (50–60 % of aluminosilicate contribution) is the most abundant end-member through time, while Chinese Loess and Gobi Desert components increase in contribution and flux in the Plio-Pleistocene. A Korean Peninsula component is lowest in abundance when present, and its occurrence reflects the opening of the Tsushima Strait at c. 3 Ma. Variation in dust source regions appears to track step-wise Asian aridification influenced by Cenozoic global cooling and periods of uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. During early stages of the evolution of the East Asian Monsoon, the Taklimakan Desert was the major source of dust to the Pacific. Continued uplift of the Tibetan Plateau may have influenced the increase in aeolian supply from the Gobi Desert and Chinese Loess Plateau into the Pleistocene. Consistent with existing records from the Pacific Ocean, these observations of aeolian fluxes provide more detail and specificity regarding the evolution of different Asian source regions through the latest Cenozoic.

Description: This dataset includes the analyses of major elements (except Si), trace, and rare earth element concentrations of marine sediment samples collected with a multi-corer during CDisK-IV cruise. Samples were prepared and analyzed by Peter W. Crockford and Ann G. Dunlea at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). In trace-metal clean labs, samples were cooked in a heated acid cocktail (HNO3, HCl, HF) with later additions of H2O2 before being dried down and brought back up with HNO3 and H2O2 and diluted. Sample solutions were analyzed on a Thermo Fischer Scientific iCAP inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) in the WHOI Plasma Facility. Precision was determined by digesting two samples three times each. The average relative standard deviation of the two sets of triplicate analyses determined precision to be ~3%. The evaporation of HF causes loss of Si, so those concentrations are not reported.

Description: Inorganic analyses of major, trace, and rare earth element concentrations for 30 bulk sediment samples at Site U1445 and additional samples from other sites in the Bay of Bengal for reference. Bulk sediment samples were freeze-dried and hand-powdered in an agate mortar and pestle prior to flux fusion for analyses of major elements with ICP-ES and an acid cocktail digestions for analyses of trace and rare earth elements on ICP-MS (Dunlea et al., 2015, doi:10.1002/2015PA002829). Analyses of 57 bulk sediment samples from Site U1445 for bulk calcium carbonate, total organic carbon, total carbon, total acidified nitrogen, carbon isotopes of the total organic carbon, and the designation of visually lighter versus darker samples at similar depths. Hydrogen isotopes and carbon isotope analyses of leaf wax fatty acids extracted from 57 samples at Site U1445. Measurements from fatty acid chainlengths C26, C28, and C30 are reported with their standard deviation. The correction for C3-C4 physiological differences in the hydrogen isotopes of C30 fatty acids is reported, estimating C3 vegetation as having a δ13C of -35.4 ‰ and C4 vegetation as -21.4‰.