During the Eocene-Oligocene transition about 34 million years ago, permanent ice cover developed on Antarctica. This pronounced climate transition was accompanied by the deepening of the carbonate compensation depth in the oceans 1 and perturbations in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations 2,3 . These changes may have been linked to continental weathering on Antarctica, but reconstructing which rock types were subject to weathering and the intensity of that weathering has proved challenging. Here we compare the lead (Pb) isotope values of seawater as recorded by extractions from decarbonated bulk sediments and those of silicate detrital fractions from deep-sea sediments from sites in the Southern Ocean that span the Eocene-Oligocene transition. These comparisons allowed us to assess local weathering inputs of Pb from Antarctica. The 206 Pb/ 204 Pb, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios suggest high rates of chemical weathering in the late Eocene, which would have helped draw down atmospheric CO 2 to levels necessary for glacial initiation. Mechanical weathering and the introduction of newly exposed material was enhanced during the establishment of the Antarctic ice sheet. We also observe a divergence of seawater 206 Pb/ 204 Pb from detrital values during the Eocene-Oligocene transition, which implies an additional source of weathered material. We argue that the weathering of carbonate basement rock from Antarctica could explain the 206 Pb/ 204 Pb trend, and could have contributed to the observed deepening of the carbonate compensation depth through contributions to ocean alkalinity.Weathering of silicate rock is a key component of the longterm carbon cycle. Previous studies demonstrated that incongruent chemical weathering of fresh silicate material produces weathering solutions with Pb isotopes that are more radiogenic than the parent source rocks owing to preferential release of radiogenic Pb from accessory minerals and/or sites of radiation damage 4-6 . In contrast, extensive congruent chemical weathering of older continental silicates/soils produces weathering solutions with Pb isotopic signatures that are similar to the parent rock composition. Applying a new approach, Pb isotopes of seawater and deep sea silicates extracted from southern Ocean Drilling Program sites represent weathering solutions and parent source materials respectively from Antarctica during the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT). Differences between these two proxies are interpreted in terms of weathering on Antarctica, which may have contributed to global processes marking the EOT.Seawater 206,207,208 Pb/ 204 Pb isotope ratios (representing weathering solutions) were extracted from decarbonated bulk deep sea sediment from Ocean Drilling Program sites 689 (64.. 2,080 m; Supplementary Fig. S1) and 738 (62.7 • S, 82.8 • E, 2,253 m; Supplementary Fig. S1) using a reducing hydroxylamine hydrochloride solution 7,8 . The remaining silicate detrital fractions (assumed to represent parent rock compositions) were then dissolved and both fra...