Plio-Pleistocene facies environments from the KBS Member, Koobi Fora Formation: implications for climate controls on the development of lake-margin hominin habitats in the northeast Turkana Basin (northwest Kenya)

Journal of Human Evolution

Volumn 53, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 504-514

  Lepre, Christopher J ^a   Quinn, Rhonda L ^a   Joordens, Josephine C A ^b   Swisher III, Carl C ^a   Feibel, Craig S ^a  

^a RUTGERS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b VU UNIVERSITY AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Depositional environments; East Africa; Hominin evolution; Lacustrine sedimentation

Indexed keywords

ALLUVIAL FAN; CLIMATE CHANGE; DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT; FACIES; FLOODPLAIN; HOMINID; LACUSTRINE DEPOSIT; PALEOCLIMATE; PALEOENVIRONMENT; PLIOCENE-PLEISTOCENE BOUNDARY; SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE; SEDIMENTATION;

AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; KENYA; KOOBI FORA; RIFT VALLEY; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; TURKANA; TURKANA BASIN;

EID: 35648996401     PISSN: 00472484     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.01.015     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. Abell P.I., Awramik S.M., Osborne R.H., and Tomellini S. Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine stromatolites from Lake Turkana, Kenya: morphology, stratigraphy and stable isotopes. Sediment. Geol. 32 (1982) 1-26
2. Antón S.C., and Swisher III C.C. Early dispersals of Homo from Africa. Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 33 (2004) 271-296
3. Ashley G.M., and Driese S.G. Paleopedology and paleohydrology of a volcaniclastic paleosol interval: implications for early Pleistocene stratigraphy and paleoclimate record, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J. Sediment. Res. 70 (2002) 1065-1080
4. Berger A., Loutre M.F., and Laskar J. Stability of the astronomical frequencies over the Earth's history for paleoclimate studies. Science 255 (1992) 560-566
5. Blair T.C. Sedimentology of gravelly Lake Lahontan highstand shoreline deposits, Churchill Butte, Nevada, USA. Sediment. Geol. 123 (1999) 199-218
6. Bobe R., and Behrensmeyer A.K. The expansion of grassland ecosystems in Africa in relation to mammalian evolution and the origin of the genus Homo. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 207 (2004) 399-420
7. Bonnefille R. A reassessment of the Plio-Pleistocene pollen record of East Africa. In: Vrba E.S., Denton G.H., Partridge T.C., and Burckle L.H. (Eds). Paleoclimate and Evolution with Emphasis on Human Origins (1995), Yale University Press, New Haven 299-310
8. Bowen, B.E., 1974. The geology of the Upper Cenozoic sediments in the East Rudolf embayment of the Lake Rudolf basin, Kenya. Ph.D. Dissertation, Iowa State University.
9. Brain C.K. The evolution of man in Africa: was it a consequence of Cainozoic cooling? Alex L. du Toit Mem. Lecture 17. Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. Annex 84 (1981) 1-19
10. Brown F.H. The potential of the Turkana Basin for paleoclimatic reconstruction in East Africa. In: Vrba E.S., Denton G.H., Partridge T.C., and Burckle L.H. (Eds). Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins (1995), Yale University Press, New Haven 319-330
11. Brown F.H., and Feibel C.S. Stratigraphical notes on the Okote Tuff Complex at Koobi Fora. Nature 316 (1985) 794-797
12. Brown F.H., and Feibel C.S. Revision of the lithostratigraphic nomenclature in the Koobi Fora Region, Kenya. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 143 (1986) 297-310
13. Brown F.H., and Feibel C.S. Stratigraphy, depositional environments and palaeogeography of the Koobi Fora Formation. In: Harris J.M. (Ed). Koobi Fora Research Project. Stratigraphy, Artiodactyls, and Palaeoenvironments vol. 3 (1991), Clarendon Press, Oxford 1-30
14. Brown F.H., Haileab B., and McDougall I. Sequence of tuffs between the KBS Tuff and the Chari Tuff in the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 163 (2006) 185-204
15. Butzer K.W., Isaac G.L., Richardson J.L., and Washbourn-Kamau C. Radiocarbon dating of East African lake levels. Science 175 (1972) 1069-1076
16. Cane M.A., and Molnar P. Closing of the Indonesian seaway as a precursor to east African aridification around 3-4 million years ago. Nature 411 (2001) 157-162
17. Carroll A.R., and Bohacs K.M. Stratigraphic classification of ancient lakes: balancing tectonic and climatic controls. Geology 27 (1999) 99-102
18. Casanova J. East African Rift stromatolites. In: Frostick L.E., Renaut R.W., Reid I., and Tiercelin J.-J. (Eds). Sedimentation in the African Rifts. Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. Lond. 25 (1986) 201-210
19. Cerling T.E. Paleochemistry of Plio-Pleistocene Lake Turkana, Kenya. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 27 (1979) 247-285
20. Cerling T.E. Development of grasslands and savannas in East Africa during the Neogene. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 97 (1992) 241-247
21. Cerling T.E., and Brown F.H. Tuffaceous marker horizons in the Koobi Fora region and the Lower Omo Valley. Nature 299 (1982) 216-221
22. Clement A.C., Hall A., and Broccoli A.J. The importance of precessional signals in the tropical climate. Clim. Dyn. 22 (2004) 327-341
23. Cohen A.S., Lezzar K.E., Tiercelin J.-J., and Soreghan M. New paleogeographic and lake-level reconstructions of Lake Tanganyika: implications for tectonic, climatic and biological evolution in a rift lake. Basin Res. 9 (1997) 107-132
24. Collinson J.D. Lakes. In: Reading H.G. (Ed). Sedimentary Environments and Facies (1978), Elsevier, New York 61-79
25. Dart R. Australopithecus africanus: the man-ape from South Africa. Nature 115 (1925) 195-199
26. de Boer P.L., and Smith D.G. Orbital forcing and cyclic sequences. Spec. Publ. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol 19 (1994) 1-14
27. Deino A.L., Kingston J.D., Glen J.M., Edgar R.K., and Hill A. Precessional forcing of lacustrine sedimentation in the late Cenozoic Chemeron Basin, Central Kenya Rift, and calibration of the Gauss/Matuyama boundary. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 247 (2006) 41-60
28. deMenocal P.B. Plio-Pleistocene African climate. Science 270 (1995) 53-59
29. deMenocal P.B. African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 220 (2004) 3-24
30. deMenocal P.B., and Rind D. Sensitivity of subtropical African and Asian climate to prescribed boundary condition changes: model implications for the Plio-Pleistocene evolution of low-latitude climate. In: Johnson T.C., and Odada E.O. (Eds). The Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes (1996), Gordon and Breach Publishers, Amsterdam 57-77
31. deMenocal P.B., Ruddiman W.F., and Pokras E.M. Influences of high- and low-latitude processes on African climate: Pleistocene eolian records from equatorial Atlantic Ocean Drilling Program Site 663. Paleoceanography 8 (1993) 209-242
32. Denison S.M., Maslin M.A., Boot C., Pancost R.D., and Ettwein V.J. Precession-forced changes in south west African vegetation during marine isotope stages 101-100 (2.56-2.51 Ma). Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 220 (2005) 375-386
33. Dupont L.M., and Leroy S.A.G. Steps toward drier climatic conditions in Northwestern Africa during the Upper Pliocene. In: Vrba E.S., Denton G.H., Partridge T.C., and Burckle L.H. (Eds). Paleoclimate and Evolution with Emphasis on Human Origins (1995), Yale University Press, New Haven 289-298
34. Feibel, C.S., 1983. Stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the Koobi Fora Formation along the western Koobi Fora Ridge, East Turkana, Kenya. M.S. Thesis, Iowa State University.
35. Feibel C.S. Fossil fish nests from the Koobi Fora Formation (Plio-Pleistocene) of northern Kenya. J. Paleontol. 61 (1987) 130-134
36. Feibel, C.S., 1988. Paleoenvironments of the Koobi Fora Formation, Turkana Basin, northern Kenya. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Utah.
37. Feibel C.S. Freshwater stingrays from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Lethaia 26 (1994) 359-366
38. Feibel C.S. Debating the environmental factors in hominid evolution. GSA Today 7 (1997) 1-7
39. Feibel C.S., Brown F.H., and McDougall I. Stratigraphic context of fossil hominids from the Omo Group deposits: northern Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 78 (1989) 595-622
40. Feibel C.S., Harris J.M., and Brown F.H. Palaeoenvironmental context for the late Neogene of the Turkana Basin. In: Harris J.M. (Ed). Koobi Fora Research Project. Stratigraphy, Artiodactyls and Palaeoenvironments vol. 3 (1991), Clarendon Press, Oxford 321-370
41. Fernández M.H., and Vrba E.S. Plio-Pleistocene climatic change in the Turkana Basin (East Africa): evidence from large mammal faunas. J. Hum. Evol. 50 (2006) 595-626
42. Gasse F. Climate and hydrological changes in tropical Africa during the past million years. C.R. Palevol. 5 (2006) 35-43
43. Hilgen F.J. Astronomical calibration of Gauss to Matuyama sapropels in the Mediterranean and implication for the geomagnetic polarity time scale. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 104 (1991) 226-244
44. Hill A., Ward S., Deino A., Garniss C., and Drake R. Earliest Homo. Nature 355 (1992) 719-722
45. Hillhouse J.W., Ndombi J.W.M., Cox A., and Brock A. Additional results on palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of the Koobi Fora Formation, east of Lake Turkana (Lake Rudolf), Kenya. Nature 265 (1977) 411-415
46. Ilgar A., and Nemec W. Early Miocene lacustrine deposits and sequence stratigraphy of the Ermenek Basin, Central Taurides, Turkey. Sediment. Geol. 173 (2005) 233-275
47. Johnson G.D. Cainozoic lacustrine stromatolites from hominid-bearing sediments east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya. Nature 247 (1974) 520-523
48. Jolly C.J. The seed eaters: a new model of hominid differentiation based on a baboon analogy. Man 5 (1970) 5-26
49. Keighley D., Flint S., Howell J., and Moscariello A. Sequence stratigraphy in lacustrine basins: a model for part of the Green River Formation (Eocene), southwest Uinta Basin. Utah. J. Sediment. Res. 73 (2003) 987-1006
50. Kimbel W.H., Walter R.C., Johanson D.C., Reed K.E., Aronson J.L., Assefa Z., Eck G.G., Bobe R., Hovers E., Rak Y., York D., Chen Y., Evensen N.M., and Smith P.E. Late Pliocene Homo and Oldowan tools from the Hadar Formation (Kada Hadar Member), Ethiopia. J. Hum. Evol. 31 (1996) 549-561
51. Kutzbach J.E., and Street-Perrott F.A. Milankovitch forcing of fluctuations in the level of tropical lakes from 18 to 0 kyr BP. Nature 317 (1985) 130-134
52. Leakey M.G., and Leakey R.F. Koobi Fora Research Project. The Fossil Hominids and an Introduction to their Context, 1968-1974 vol. 1 (1978), Clarendon, Oxford
53. Levin N.E., Quade J., Simpson S.W., Semaw S., and Rogers M. Isotopic evidence for Plio-Pleistocene environmental change at Gona, Ethiopia. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 219 (2004) 93-110
54. 18O records. Paleoceanography 20 (2005) PA1003
55. Lourens L.J., Antonarakou A., Hilgen F.J., Van Hoof A.A.M., Vergnaud-Grazzini C., and Zachariasse W.J. Evaluation of the Plio-Pleistocene astronomical timescale. Paleoceanography 11 (1996) 391-413
56. Lourens L., Hilgen F., Shackleton N.J., Laskar J., and Wilson D. The Neogene Period. In: Gradstein F., Ogg J., and Smith A. (Eds). A Geologic Time Scale (2004), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 409-440
57. 39Ar geochronology for the upper Koobi Fora Formation, Turkana Basin, northern Kenya. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 163 (2006) 205-220
58. McDougall I., Brown F.H., Cerling T.E., and Hillhouse J.W. A reappraisal of the geomagnetic polarity time scale to 4 Ma using data from the Turkana Basin, East Africa. Geophys. Res. Lett. 19 (1992) 2349-2352
59. McDougall I., Brown F.H., and Fleagle J.G. Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia. Nature 433 (2005) 733-736
60. McGregor G.R., and Nieuwolt S. Tropical Climatology: an Introduction to the Climates of the Low Latitudes. second ed. (1998), Wiley, New York
61. Molfino B., and McIntyre A. Precessional forcing of nutricline dynamics in the equatorial Atlantic. Science 249 (1990) 766-768
62. Morley C.K., Vanhauwaert P., and De Batist M. Evidence for high-frequency cyclic fault activity from high-resolution seismic reflection survey, Rukwa Rift, Tanzania. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 157 (2000) 983-994
63. Nicholson S.E. A review of climate dynamics and climate variability in Eastern Africa. In: Johnson T.C., and Odada E.O. (Eds). The Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes (1996), Gordon and Breach Publishers, Amsterdam 25-56
64. Olsen P.E., and Kent D.V. Milankovitch climate forcing in the tropics of Pangaea during the Late Triassic. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 122 (1996) 1-26
65. Owen R.B., Barthelme J.W., Renaut R.W., and Vincens A. Palaeolimnology and archaeology of Holocene deposits north-east of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Nature 298 (1982) 523-529
66. Pokras E.M., and Mix A.C. Earth's precession cycle and Quaternary climatic change in tropical Africa. Nature 326 (1987) 486-487
67. Potts R. Environmental hypotheses of hominid evolution. Yearb. Phys. Anthropol. 41 (1998) 93-136
68. Prell W.L., and Kutzbach J.E. Monsoon variability over the past 150,000 years. J. Geophys. Res. 92 (1987) 8411-8425
69. Renaut R.W., and Owen R.B. Shore-zone sedimentation and facies in a closed rift lake: the Holocene beach deposits of Lake Bogoria, Kenya. In: Anadon P., Cabrera L., and Kelts K. (Eds). Lacustrine Facies Analysis. Spec. Publ. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. 13 (1991) 175-195
70. Robinson J.T. The genera and species of the Australopithecinae. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 12 (1954) 181-200
71. Rossignol-Strick M. Mediterranean Quaternary sapropels, an immediate response of the African monsoon to variation of insolation. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 49 (1985) 237-263
72. Sadler P.M. Sediment accumulation rates and the completeness of stratigraphic sections. J. Geol. 89 (1981) 569-584
73. Scholz C.A. Deltas of the Lake Malawi Rift, East Africa, seismic expression and exploration implications. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 79 (1995) 1679-1697
74. Scholz C.A., Moore T.C., Hutchinson D.R., Golmshtok A.J., Klitgord K.D., and Kurotchkin A.G. Comparative sequence stratigraphy of low-latitude versus high-latitude lacustrine rift basins: seismic data examples from the East African and Baikal rifts. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 140 (1998) 401-420
75. Semaw S., Rogers M.J., Quade J., Renne P.R., Butler R.F., Dominguez-Rodrigo M., Stout D., Hart W.S., Pickering T., and Simpson S.W. 2.6-million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. J. Hum. Evol. 45 (2003) 169-177
76. Sepulchre P., Ramstein G., Fluteau F., Schuster M., Tiercelin J.-J., and Brunet M. Tectonic uplift and Eastern Africa aridification. Science 313 (2006) 1419-1423
77. Shackleton N.J., Backman J., Zimmerman H., Kent D.V., Hall M.A., Toberts D.G., Schnitker D., Baldauf J.G., Despraires A., Homrighausen R., Huddlestun P., Keene J.B., Kaltenback J., Krumsiek K.A.O., Morton A.C., Murray J.W., and Westberg-Smith J. Oxygen isotope calibration of the onset of ice-rafting and history of glaciation in the North Atlantic Region. Nature 307 (1984) 620-623
78. Sutcliffe J.V., and Parks Y.P. The hydrology of the Nile. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Special Publication 5 (1999)
79. Tiercelin J.-J. Rift-basin sedimentation: responses to climate, tectonism and volcanism. Examples of the East African Rift. J. African Earth Sci. 10 (1990) 283-305
80. Tindall, K.W., 1986. Stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the Koobi Fora Formation along the eastern Koobi Fora Ridge, East Turkana, Kenya. M.S. Thesis, Iowa State University.
81. Trauth M.H., Deino A.L., Bergner A.G.N., and Strecker M.R. East African climate change and orbital forcing during the last 175 kyr BP. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 206 (2003) 297-313
82. Trauth M.H., Maslin M.A., Deino A., and Strecker M.R. Late Cenozoic moisture history of East Africa. Science 309 (2005) 2051-2053
83. Tuenter E., Weber S.L., Hilgen F.J., and Lourens L.J. The response of the African summer monsoon to remote and local forcing due to precession and obliquity. Global and Planetary Change 36 (2003) 219-235
84. Vrba E.S. Habitat theory in relation to the evolution in African Neogene biota and hominids. In: Bromage T.G., and Schrenk F. (Eds). African Biogeography, Climate Change, and Human Evolution (1999), Oxford University Press, New York 19-34
85. Williamson P.G. Molluscan biostratigraphy of the Koobi Fora hominid-bearing deposits. Nature 295 (1982) 140-142
86. Wood B.A. Koobi Fora Research Project. Hominid Cranial Remains from Koobi Fora vol. 4 (1991), Clarendon, Oxford
87. Wynn J.G. Influence of Plio-Pleistocene aridification on human evolution: evidence from paleosols of the Turkana Basin, Kenya. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 123 (2004) 106-118
88. Yuretich R.F. Modern sediments and sedimentary processes in Lake Rudolf (Lake Turkana), eastern Rift Valley, Kenya. Sedimentology 26 (1979) 313-330