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Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean osc...

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Main Authors: Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie (Author) , Gosling, William D. (Author) , Vogelsang, Ralf (Author) , Bahr, André (Author) , Scerri, Eleanor M. L. (Author) , Asrat, Asfawossen (Author) , Cohen, Andrew S. (Author) , Düsing, Walter (Author) , Foerster, Verena (Author) , Lamb, Henry F. (Author) , Maslin, Mark A. (Author) , Roberts, Helen M. (Author) , Schäbitz, Frank (Author) , Trauth, Martin H. (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: May 31, 2021
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year: 2021, Volume: 118, Issue: 23, Pages: 1-6
ISSN:1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2018277118
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Author Notes:Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, William D. Gosling, Ralf Vogelsang, André Bahr, Eleanor M. L. Scerri, Asfawossen Asrat, Andrew S. Cohen, Walter Düsing, Verena Foerster, Henry F. Lamb, Mark A. Maslin, Helen M. Roberts, Frank Schäbitz, and Martin H. Trauth
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Summary:In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth’s eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.
Item Description:Gesehen am 25.10.2021
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2018277118

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