The dataset presented was used to reconstruct the origin of terrestrial material deposited during the last 30 thousand years on the upper continental slope of the Svalbard archipelago, north of Nordaustlandet (81°16'N, 26°13'E). The material analyzed consisted in muddy sediments from the 4.66 m long gravity core HH11-09GC, retrieved at a water depth of 488 m in September 2011 during a scientific cruise of the R/V Helmer Hanssen. Data on lignin phenols and cutin acids were obtained oxidizing with cupric oxide (CuO) 250-300 mg of dry sediment of 77 samples. The analytical procedure followed Goñi & Montgomery (2000) using a Microwave Accelerated Reaction System (MARS) 6 from CEM. Chromatographic analyses to identify and quantify each compound of interest were performed on an Agilent 7820A Gas Chromatograph coupled with a 5977B Mass Selective Detector in single ion monitoring (SIM), equipped with a Trajan SGE 30 m× 320 μm (0.25 μm-thick film) PB-1 capillary column. The analytical procedures were carried in the organic geochemistry laboratories of Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council in Bologna, Italy. Lignin phenols and cutin acids were used individually or to obtain ratios that provided insights on the degradation state and the origin of terrestrial material archived within the marine sediments.

The research is part of the Programma di Ricerche in Artico, project PAST-HEAT (PermAfroSt Thawing: what Happened to the largest tErrestrial cArbon pool during lasT deglaciation?)