Organic geochemistry of Pliocene sediments in the core monsoon zone on the Indian Peninsula

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‰.