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A recent hypothesis contends that abyssal hill topography is linked to sea level periodicities expressed by Milankovitch cycles, predicting that abyssal hill elevation is correlated to crustal age. We test this prediction by stacking (averaging) bathymetry as a function of age to enhance age-dependent signal while suppressing random (primarily faulted) components. Stacking is applied to bathymetry data flanking intermediate, fast, and superfast spreading ridges. Revised digital crustal age models were generated in these regions using a recent compilation of reliable magnetic anomaly identifications, with inferred temporal uncertainty of similar to 0.01 my. We utilize statistical properties of abyssal hills to predict the variability of the age-stack under the null hypothesis that abyssal hills are random with respect to crustal age; the age-stacked profile is significantly different from zero only if it exceeds this expected variability by a large margin. Our results do not support the presence of Milankovitch-driven signals in abyssal hill topography.

Plain Language Summary Recent studies suggest that abyssal hills, lineated seafloor features created by faulting and magmatism at mid-ocean spreading ridges, are linked to the Earth's climate cycles. This hypothesis contends that the rising and falling of sea level that accompanies climate change will modulate pressure at depth and thus the magmatic output that contributes to abyssal hill construction. It also makes an important prediction: Abyssal hills everywhere will have a coherent signal as a function of crustal age. Here we test this prediction through "stacking" or averaging abyssal hill bathymetry as a function of age, which should suppress any random component (e.g., faulting) and enhance any coherent component. We find, however, that there is no statistically significant age-dependent signal and therefore that there is no evidence in this analysis of a climate-driven signal in abyssal hills.