Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa

Isla S. Castaneda; Stefan Mulitza; Enno Schefuss; Raquel A. Lopes dos Santos; Jaap S. Sinninghe Damste; Stefan Schouten

doi:10.1073/pnas.0905771106

Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa

Isla S. Castaneda
, Stefan Mulitza
, Enno Schefuss
, Raquel A. Lopes dos Santos
, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damste
, Stefan Schouten

Utrecht University
University of Bremen
extern

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes (a proxy for C-3 vs. C-4 vegetation) in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained C-3 plants (likely trees), indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. Our data suggest that variability in the strength of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a main control on vegetation distribution in central North Africa, and we note expansions of C-3 vegetation during the African Humid Period (early Holocene) and within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (approximate to 50-45 ka) and MIS 5 (approximate to 120-110 ka). The wet periods within MIS 3 and 5 coincide with major human migration events out of sub-Saharan Africa. Our results thus suggest that changes in AMOC influenced North African climate and, at times, contributed to amenable conditions in the central Sahara/Sahel, allowing humans to cross this otherwise inhospitable region.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	20159-20163
Number of pages	5
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	106
Issue number	48
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905771106
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2009
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We thank Marianne Baas, Jort Ossebaar, and Michiel Kienhuis for assistance with the organic geochemical and isotopic analyses; Monika Segl and Christina Kammle for assistance with the foraminiferal isotope analyses; two anonymous reviewers for detailed comments that improved this manuscript; and members of the University of Bremen Geosciences Department and the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences for samples from GeoB9528-3. This work was supported by Netherlands Bremen Oceanography 2. E. S. and S. M. are supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Research Center/Excellence Cluster "The Ocean in the Earth System."

Funders
Netherlands Bremen Oceanography 2
the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC)
N-alkane carbon isotopes
Vegetation

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10.1073/pnas.0905771106

Cite this

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abstract = "The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes (a proxy for C-3 vs. C-4 vegetation) in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained C-3 plants (likely trees), indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. Our data suggest that variability in the strength of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a main control on vegetation distribution in central North Africa, and we note expansions of C-3 vegetation during the African Humid Period (early Holocene) and within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (approximate to 50-45 ka) and MIS 5 (approximate to 120-110 ka). The wet periods within MIS 3 and 5 coincide with major human migration events out of sub-Saharan Africa. Our results thus suggest that changes in AMOC influenced North African climate and, at times, contributed to amenable conditions in the central Sahara/Sahel, allowing humans to cross this otherwise inhospitable region.",

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Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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