This research used samples and data provided by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). ODP is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and participating countries under management of Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), Inc. We thank the Ocean Drilling Program for the opportunity to participate in Leg 184 and for providing us with samples and logistical support. We especially acknowledge the Gulf Coast Core Repository at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, for providing us with additional samples at short notice. We thank Frank Bruhn and Pieter M. Grootes for assistance with accelerator mass spectroscopy 14C dating at the Leibniz Labor, Kiel, Germany, and, especially, Claudia Sieler for her assistance with data management. For additional 14C dates and a revised biostratigraphy we thank Min-Pen Chen and Jih-Ping Shyu, Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University. We are grateful to Quanhong Zhao, Shanghai, China, for data on the microtektite layer. Special thanks to Rebecca Rendle, Geomar, Kiel, Germany, for her constructive comments and careful revision of this manuscript. Our research was generously funded by the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG-grants Sa 207/38-1 "Monitor Monsun" and Sa 207/41-1 "Monsun Südchina See").