Dear Dr. Dummann

Thank you for submitting your manuscript entitled «Driving mechanisms of organic carbon burial in the Early Cretaceous South Atlantic Cape Basin (DSDP Site 361)» to Climate of the Past.

I think in it's present form the manuscript is well written and mostly well structured, with generally appropriate figures, text, and referencing. The reviewers and I have several suggestions for improving the paper to make it more impactful and accurate. I will want to see all this done before publishing the manuscript.

The paper has been reviewed by one paleoclimate modeler and one paleo-proxy expert and both have given it substantive and favorable reviews which I concur with. While the two reviewers recognize the importance of your work, they also ask for substantial modifications of your manuscript with some similarities. The anonymous reviewer ranked the paper as requiring a major round of revisions while the second one, A. Pohl, choose minor revisions.

As editor, a general comment that draw my attention is the one about potential similarities with your EPSL paper. It is paramount that you clearly state from the introduction what is known and unknown and in which area of research this contribution brings new results. From my own reading, your paper is mainly focused on the variability of the anoxia within the Aptian time period, its characterization via new geochemical proxies and its link with events occurring on land. In that sense, the modeling work confirms the major role played by CO2 changes but not the one played by orbital parameters variations. This is something that has to be clear as far as you will decide not to investigate this second hypothesis. In other words, changes in TOC happening outside the OAE-1 in your record still need explanations firmly supported by either new climate simulations at various orbital parameters or the set up of an orbital timescale as suggested by the anonymous reviewer. For these reasons, the sentences in the abstract, l.28-30 and the last one l. 32-33, are not justified or should be tone down to recognize the needs for more in depth studies investigating the role of orbital parameters. Last but not least, I would like to see as suggested by the anonymous reviewer T and S latitudinal-depth transect across the south Atlantic sector in order to illustrate as suggested in your EPSL paper the role of the ocean dynamics. This is fair as far as you also refer to ocean dynamics to rule out the potential role of upwelled waters in this contribution.


Please submit a revised version of your manuscript taking into account as much as possible reviewer assessments (as you already did in your answers). I will send back the revised manuscript to the anonymous reviewer - this should be fast given your already detailed answers to reviewers.

I look forward to receiving your revised manuscript. If you have any questions, please contact the editorial office at editorial@copernicus.org
.

Sincerely,

Yannick Donnadieu

Dear Dr Dummann,
I'm pleased to accept your paper entitled «Driving mechanisms of organic carbon burial in the Early Cretaceous South Atlantic Cape Basin (DSDP Site 361)» for publication in Climate of the Past.

Please find below some minor comments done by the reviewer after his second round of review.

I look forward to seeing your revised manuscript published. If you have any questions, please contact the editorial office at editorial@copernicus.org

Sincerely,

Yannick Donnadieu



32- We suggest the relatively strong coupling between orbital parameters and deep basin sedimentology found in this study to the lack of … shelf seas in Aptian South Atlantic …
71- less extensively than ?
512- limb, not limp
565- In the case of
There are a few instances of ‘This’ used as a sentence’s subject without a clear antecedent.