In order to assess the response of vegetation from eastern tropical South America to hydroclimate changes during the last ca. 45 kyr, we analyzed marine sediment core M125-95-3 that archived sediments from the São Francisco River drainage basin. We used the stable carbon (δ13C) and hydrogen (δD) isotopes of long-chain n-alkanes (i.e., C29-C31) to reconstruct regional vegetation composition and precipitation dynamics, respectively. The data set contains marine sedimentary records of long-chain n-alkane δ13C and δD, as well as the isotopic difference between homologues (Δδ13C31-29), and locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) of indicated data. The δ13Cwax refers to the weighted averages of δ13C29 and δ13C31 values. The δDwax refers to the weighted averages of δD29 and δD31 values.

The dataset contains the corresponding depths and ages of each analyzed sample, long-chain (C29 and C31) n-alkane stable carbon (δ13C) and hydrogen (δD) isotope composition (ice volume corrected data), data standard deviation, the isotopic difference between homologs (Δδ13C31-29), and locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) of indicated data. The δ13Cwax refers to the weighted averages of δ13C29 and δ13C31 values. The δDwax refers to the weighted averages of δD29 and δD31 values.