12 13Pedogenic calcretes are widespread in arid and semi-arid regions. Using calcrete profiles from four 14 river terraces of the Rio Alias in southeast Spain, this study explores the potential of using detailed 15 micromorphological and stable isotopic analysis to more fully understand the impacts of Quaternary 16 environmental change on calcrete development. The four profiles increase in carbonate complexity 17 with progressive age, reflecting calcretisation over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles since MIS 9 (c. to the same environmental parameter, which is inferred to be relative aridity. The study reveals that 23 the detailed co-analysis of calcrete micromorphology and stable isotope signatures can allow patterns 24 of calcrete formation to be placed into a wider palaeoclimatic context. This demonstrates the potential 25 of this technique to more reliably constrain the palaeoenvironmental significance of secondary 26 carbonates in dryland settings where other proxy records may be poorly preserved. 27 28

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