Temporal variations over the last ~700 years in surface productivity and subsurface denitrification in the coastal eastern Arabian Sea (off Goa), a hydrographically unique environment that experiences seasonal near-bottom anoxia, have been investigated using multiple geochemical and isotopic proxies. The results suggest that surface productivity was much lower than it is today during all major solar minima during this period, but subsurface denitrification appears to have weakened substantially only during ~AD 1650 to 1750, within the period of the `Little Ice Age' (LIA; from ~AD 1500 to 1750), most probably a result of a less vigorous upwelling associated with a decreased southwest monsoon strength. The proxy data indicate that the productivity during the last ~150 years (the Anthropocene) has been higher than ever before in the past 700 years, and water column measurements demonstrate that the region currently experiences extremely intense denitrification; yet, the nitrogen isotopic ratio in sedimentary organic matter (δ15N) exhibits a moderately declining trend during this period. This is ascribed to dilution by terrestrial sources and/or to small isotopic effect associated with vigorous denitrification that removes all nitrate, with possibly additional inputs of light nitrogen through fixation by the diazotrophs that is probably tightly coupled to denitrification. Thus, our results reveal limitation of sedimentary δ 15N as a proxy for palaeodenitrification despite excellent preservation of organic matter in coastal sediments.

Five hundred and eighteen cosmic spherules were identified among the 672 spherules handpicked from deep sea sediments by using Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM-EDS). One of the spherules is found to enclose a spherical chondrule-like object that can be distinguished from the rest of the spherule by its shape, texture and composition and whose petrographic features, size and chemical composition are similar to chondrules from a chondritic meteorite, probably of carbonaceous chondritic nature. The present finding suggests that a small fraction of the particulate extraterrestrial matter enters the earth as fragments of larger meteorites.

Micrometeorites provide a large range of samples sourced from a wide variety of planetary materials, thereby providing a scope for expanding the known inventory of solar system materials. Here we report the micrometeorite AAS62‐34‐P117 having the assemblage of corundum, hibonite, unknown Al‐rich phases, FeNi metal blebs, sulfide, and phosphate embedded in Al‐rich silicate composition, and Pt‐group element nuggets dispersed throughout the micrometeorite. Here, we report the presence of corundum in micrometeorites as a major refractory phase with sizes greater than ~10 μm. The Al‐rich phases have Al2O3 ~50–70%, such high Al phases are not known from meteoritic components either in chondrules or refractory inclusions. In addition, the Ca content is extremely poor to relate it directly to known refractory inclusions, but is very high in Al. The presence of corundum in Al‐rich phases indicates the micrometeorite to be early condensate from solar nebula that later got incorporated into Si‐rich materials leading to a transformation that produced the unusual Al‐rich and Ca‐poor phases different from the average solar composition. The observed texture and mineralogy of the micrometeorite appears to have evolved in a nebular setting that has compositional reservoirs different from those of any known components of meteorites.

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