Dear authors,
Thank you for your careful consideration of the comments made by the two reviewers on your manuscript. Your replies indicate an awareness of the issues raised and a willingness to address these in a revised manuscript. I hope that the reviewers comments have been helpful in seeing where some of your arguments may not have been quite as clear as you had hoped.

i agree with the reviewers that some more information is needed in explaining the sources of the diols, both the "riverine" and "marine". This relates to the point raised on what the "riverine input" really means (freshwater input? Organic matter production within the river?). You note in your reply to reviewer 2 that in general there is good correlation between BIT and the diol index, but is that to be expected given different sources, or are you saying that high river flow for the most part brings more terrestrial organic matter? Addressing this point does not require extensive text, but just some clarity on what is being recorded by the diols.

I agree with reviewer 2 also about some areas of speculation. It isn't always clear in the text when you are making inferences based on known soil properties (e.g. Across regions) or if these are speculations. I recommend that in the revised version you try to use phrases such as "we hypothesise..." to flag up the areas which need more research for confirmation.

Finally, figure 3 is quite small and not easy to read in its current form. I recommend increasing its size so that the details are visible.

Thank you for your careful responses to the comments made by the Editor and the 2 reviewers. I have read your response and the manuscript and I am satisfied that you have addressed those concerns.

To proceed, please upload the final version of your manuscript (i.e. without the changes you have made being highlighted). You may also want to remove the sentence in the supplemental information which details the 'quick' picking/lab processing of the second core samples. You don't give this detail for the first core, so apply the same approach to the second one.

Thank you for submitting your work to Climate of the Past.

Best wishes,
Erin McClymont