Diatoms can access mineral iron from dust if it is reduced, and reduced particulate iron is common in glacial dust sources.

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We present the first comprehensive dust provenance and lithogenic flux data set extracted from surface sediments distributed across the polar and subpolar South Pacific. The dataset comprises 230 Th-normalized lithogenic fluxes combined with rare earth elements, strontium, neodymium and lead isotope data to determine lithogenic fluxes, spatial distribution and sources of dust (<10 mm) during the Holocene. We observe the highest lithogenic fluxes in surface sediments near New Zealand which most likely indicate a combination of Australian dust and riverine input from New Zealand. Similarly, high fluxes off West Antarctica are ascribed to sediment input from the nearby continental shelf and margin. In contrast, the lithogenic fluxes in the remote open ocean are derived from dust input. Isotopic and REE data suggest that the Lake Eyre Basin in central Australia is the most prominent potential source area for dust distributed over the South Pacific during the Holocene, with additional input from the Darling Basin in southeast Australia.