An abrupt change in the African monsoon at the end of the Younger Dryas

Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

Volumn 8, Issue 3, 2007, Pages

  Talbot, Michael R ^a   Filippi, Maria Letizia ^b   Jensen, Niels Bo ^c   Tiercelin, Jean Jacques ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN   (Norway)

^b MUSEO TRIDENTINO DI SCIENZE NATURALI   (Italy)

^c IRIS Petroleum   (Norway)

^d INSTITUT UNIVERSITAIRE EUROPÉEN DE LA MER   (France)

Author keywords

Africa; Limnogeology; Organic matter; Paleoclimate; Stable isotopes; Younger Dryas

Indexed keywords

EID: 44249110210     PISSN: 15252027     EISSN: 15252027     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1029/2006GC001465     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Adegbie, A. T., R. R. Schneider, U. Röhl, and G. Wefer (2003), Glacial millennial-scale fluctuations in central African precipitation recorded in terrigenous sediment supply and freshwater signals offshore Cameroon, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 197, 323-333.
2. Alley, R. B. (2000), The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland, Quat. Sci. Rev., 19, 213-226.
3. Alley, R. B., et al. (1993), Abrupt increase in snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas, Nature, 362, 527-529.
4. Barker, P., and F. Gasse (2003), New evidence for a reduced water balance in East Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum: Implication for model-data comparison, Quat. Sci. Rev., 22, 823-837.
5. Barker, P. A., M. R. Talbot, F. A. Street-Perrott, F. Marret, J. Scourse, and E. O. Odada (2004), Late Quaternary climatic variability in intertropical Africa, in Past Climate Variability Through Europe and Africa, edited by R. W. Battarbee, F. Gasse, and C. E. Stickley, pp. 117 - 138, Springer, New York.
6. Barry, S. L., M. L. Filippi, M. R. Talbot, and T. C. Johnson (2002s), Sedimentology and geochronology of late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments from northern Lake Malawi, in The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeolimnology and Biodiversity, edited by E. O. Odada and D. O. Olago, pp. 369-391, Springer, New York.
7. Beadle, L. C. (1981), The Inland Waters of Tropical Africa, 433 pp., Longman, New York.
8. Beuning, K. R. M., K. Kelts, and J. C. Stager (1998), Abrupt climatic changes associated with the arid Younger Dryas interval in Africa, in Environmental Change and Response in East African Lakes, edited by J. T. Lehman, pp. 147-156, Elsevier, New York.
9. Beuning, K. R. M., M. R. Talbot, D. A. Livingstone, and G. Schmukler (2003), Sensitivity of carbon isotopic proxies to paleoclimatic forcing: A case study from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, over the last 32,000 years, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 17(4), 1121, doi:10.1029/2003GB002072.
10. Björck, S., et al. (1996), Synchronized terrestrial-atmospheric deglacial records around the North Atlantic, Science, 274, 1155-1160.
11. Bond, G., W. Showers, M. Cheseby, R. Lotti, P. Almasi, P. DeMenocal, P. Priore, H. Cullen, I. Hajdas, and G. Bonani (1997), A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial climates, Science, 278, 1257-1266.
12. Broecker, W. S. (2006), Was the Younger Dryas triggered by a flood?, Science, 312, 1146-1148.
13. Broecker,W. S., M. Andree,W.Wolli,W. Oeschger, G. Bonani, J. Kennett, and D. A. Peteet (1988), A case in support of a meltwater diversion as the trigger for the onset of the Younger Dryas, Paleoceanography, 3, 1-9.
14. Brown, E. T., L. Le Callonnec, and C. R. German (2000), Geochemical cycling of redox-sensitive metals in sediments from Lake Malawi: A diagnostic paleotracer for episodic changes in mixing depth, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 64, 3515-3523.
15. Camberlin, P., S. Janicot, and I. Poccard (2001), Seasonality and atmospheric dynamics of the teleconnection between African rainfall and tropical sea-surface temperature: Atlantic vs. ENSO, Int. J. Climatol., 21, 973-1005.
16. Chalié, F., and F. Gasse (2002), Late Glacial-Holocene diatom record of water chemistry and lake level change from the tropical East African rift Lake Abiyata (Ethiopia), Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 187, 259-283.
17. Claussen, M., C. Kubatzki, V. Brovkin, A. Ganopolski, P. Hoelzmann, and H.-J. Pachur (1999), Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation in the mid-Holocene, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 2037-2040.
18. Cohen, A. S., M. R. Talbot, S. M. Awramik, D. L. Dettman, and P. Abell (1997), Lake level and paleoenvironmental history of Lake Tanganyika, Africa, as inferred from late Holocene and modern stromatolites, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 109, 444-460.
19. Coulter, G. W., and R. H. Spigel (1991), Hydrodynamics, in Lake Tanganyika and Its Life, edited by G. W. Coulter, pp. 49-75, Oxford Univ. Press, New York.
20. Dahl, K. A., A. J. Broccoli, and R. J. Stouffer (2005), Assessing the role of North Atlantic freshwater forcing in millennial scale climate variability: A tropical Atlantic perspective, Clim. Dyn., 24, 325-346.
21. deMenocal, P. B., and D. Rind (1993), Sensitivity of Asian and African climate to variations in seasonal insolation, glacial ice cover, sea surface temperature, and Asian orography, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 7265-7287.
22. deMenocal, P., J. Ortiz, T. Guilderson, J. Adkins, M. Sarnthein, L. Baker, and M. Yarusinsky (2000), Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: Rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing, Quat. Sci. Rev., 19, 347-361.
23. Dupont, L. M., J.-H. Kim, R. R. Schneider, and N. Shi (2004), Southwest African climate independent of Atlantic sea surface temperatures during the Younger Dryas, Quat. Res., 61, 318-324.
24. EPICA Community Members (2006), One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica, Nature, 444, 195-198.
25. Farmer, E. C., P. B. deMenocal, and T. M. Marchitto (2005), Holocene and deglacial ocean temperature variability in the Benguela upwelling region: Implications for low-latitude atmospheric circulation, Paleoceanography, 20, PA2018, doi:10.1029/2004PA001049. (Pubitemid 41410768)
26. Filippi, M. L., and M. R. Talbot (2005), The palaeolimnology of northern Lake Malawi over the last 25 ka based upon the elemental and stable isotopic composition of sedimentary organic matter, Quat. Sci. Rev., 24, 1303-1328.
27. Finney, B. P., and T. C. Johnson (1991), Sedimentation in Lake Malawi (East Africa) during the past 10,000 years: A continuous paleoclimatic record from the southern tropics, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 85, 351-366.
28. Garcin, Y., D. Williamson, M. Taieb, A. Vincens, P.-E. Mathé, and A. Majule (2006), Centennial to millennial changes in maar-lake deposition during the last 45,000 years in tropical Southern Africa (Lake Masoko, Tanzania), Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 239, 334-354.
29. Gasse, F. (2000), Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum, Quat. Sci. Rev., 19, 189-211.
30. Gasse, F., and C. N. Roberts (2005), Late Quaternary hydrologic changes in the arid and semiarid belt of northern Africa, in The Hadley Circulation: Present, Past and Future, edited by H. F. Diaz and R. S. Bradley, pp. 313-345, Elsevier, New York.
31. Gasse, F., and E. Van Campo (1994), Abrupt post-glacial climate events in West Asia and North Africa monsoon domains, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 126, 435-456.
32. Gasse, F., V. Lédée, M. Massault, and J. C. Fontes (1989), Water-level fluctuations of Lake Tanganyika in phase with oceanic changes during the last glaciation and deglaciation, Nature, 342, 57-59.
33. Gasse, F., P. Barker, and T. C. Johnson (2002), A 24,000 yr diatom record from the northern basin of Lake Malawi, in The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeolimnology and Biodiversity, edited by E. O. Odada and D. O. Olago, pp. 393-414, Springer, New York.
34. Haberyan, K. A., and R. E. Hecky (1987), The Late Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy and paleolimnology of Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 61, 169-197.
35. Hastenrath, S. (1984), The Glaciers of Equatorial Africa, 353 pp., Springer, New York.
36. Hecky, R. E., and H. J. Kling (1987), Phytoplankton ecology of the great lakes in the rift valleys of central Africa, Ergeb. Limnol., 25, 197-228.
37. Hecky, R. E., R. H. Spigel, and G. W. Coulter (1991), The nutrient regime, in Lake Tanganyika and Its Life, edited by G. W. Coulter, pp. 76-89, Oxford Univ. Press, New York.
38. 13C/palynological evidence of differential residence times of organic carbon prior to its sedimentation in East African rift lakes and peat bogs, Quat. Sci. Rev., 8, 207-212.
39. Hoelzmann, P., F.Gasse, L.Dupont,U. Salzmann, M. Staubwasser, D. C. Leuscher, and F. Sirocko (2004), Palaeoenvironmental changes in the arid and sub-arid belt (Sahara-Sahel-Arabian Peninsula) from 150 kyr to present, in Past Climatic Variability Through Europe and Africa, edited by R. W. Battarbee, F. Gasse, and C. E. Stickley, pp. 219-256, Springer, New York.
40. Holmgren, K., J. A. Lee-Thorp, G. R. J. Cooper, K. Lundblad, T. C. Partridge, L. Scott, R. Sithaldeen, A. S. Talma, and P. D. Tyson (2003), Persistent millennial-scale climatic variability over the past 25,000 years in southern Africa, Quat. Sci. Rev., 22, 2311-2326.
41. Johnson, T. C., E. T. Brown, J. McManus, S. Barry, P. Barker, and F. Gasse (2002), A high-resolution paleoclimate record spanning the past 25,000 years in southern East Africa, Science, 296, 113-132.
42. Johnson, T. C., E. T. Brown, and J. McManus (2004), Diatom productivity in northern Lake Malawi during the past 25,000 years: Implications for the position of the intertropical convergence zone at millennial and shorter time scales, in Past Climatic Variability Through Europe and Africa, edited by R. W. Battarbee, F. Gasse, and C. E. Stickley, pp. 93-116, Springer, New York.
43. Kaser, G., and H. Osmaston (2002), Tropical Glaciers, 207 pp., Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.
44. Kim, J.-H., and R. R. Schneider (2003), Low-latitude control of interhemispheric sea-surface temperature contrast in the tropical Atlantic over the past 21 kyears: The possible role of SE trade winds, Clim. Dyn., 21, 337-347.
45. Kim, J.-H., R. R. Schneider, P. J. Müller, and G. Wefer (2002), Interhemispheric comparison of deglacial sea-surface temperature patterns in the Atlantic eastern boundary currents, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 194, 383-393.
46. Kim, J.-H., R. R. Schneider, S. Mulitza, and P. J. Müller (2003), Reconstruction of SE trade-wind intensity based on sea-surface temperature gradients in the Southeast Atlantic over the last 25 kyr, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(22), 2144, doi:10.1029/2003GL017557.
47. Kutzbach, J. E., and Z. Liu (1997), Response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing and ocean feedbacks in the middle Holocene, Science, 278, 440-444.
48. Kutzbach, J. E., and F. A. Street-Perrott (1985), Milankovitch forcing of fluctuations in the level of tropical lakes from 18 to 0 kyr BP, Nature, 317, 130-134.
49. Kutzbach, J., G. Bonan, J. Foley, and S. P. Harrison (1996), Vegetation and soil feedbacks on the response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing in the early to middle Holocene, Nature, 384, 623-626.
50. Lancaster, N., G. Kocurek, A. Singhvi, V. Pandey, M. Deynoux, J.-F. Ghienne, and K. Lô (2002), Late Pleistocene and Holocene dune activity and wind regimes in the western Sahara desert of Mauritania, Geology, 30, 991-994.
51. Lézine, A.-M., J.-C. Duplessy, and J.-P. Cazet (2005), West African monsoon variability during the last deglaciation and the Holocene: Evidence from fresh water algae, pollen and isotope data from core KW31, Gulf of Guinea, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 219, 225-237.
52. Livingstone, D. A. (1965), Sedimentation and history of water level changes in Lake Tanganyika, Limnol. Oceanogr., 10, 607-609.
53. Lotter, A. F., H. J. B. Birks, U. Eicher, W. Hofmann, J. Schwander, and L. Wick (2000), Younger Dryas and Allerød summer temperatures at Gerzensee (Switzerland) inferred from fossil pollen and cladoceran assemblages, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 159, 349-361.
54. Maley, J. (1991), The African rain forest vegetation and palaeoenvironments during Late Quaternary, Clim. Change, 19, 79-98.
55. Maley, J. (1997), Middle to late Holocene changes in tropical Africa and other continents: Paleomonsoon and sea surface temperature variations, in Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse, NATO ASI Ser., Ser. I, vol.149, edited by H. N. Dalfes and G. Kukla, pp. 611-640, Springer, New York.
56. Mollenhauer, G., T. I. Eglington, N. Ohkuchi, R. R. Schneider, P. J. Muller, P. M. Grootes, and J. Rullkotter (2003), Asynchronous alkenone and foraminifera records from the Benguela upwelling system, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 67, 2157-2171.
57. Nicholson, S. E. (1986), The spatial coherence of African rainfall anomalies: Interhemispheric teleconnections, J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol., 25, 1365-1381.
58. Nicholson, S. E. (1996), A review of climate dynamics and climate variability in eastern Africa, in The Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes, edited by T. C. Johnson and E. O. Odada, pp. 25-56, Gordon and Breach, New York.
59. Overpeck, J., D. Anderson, S. Trumbore, and W. Prell (1996), The southwest Indian Monsoon over the last 18000 years, Clim. Dyn., 12, 213-225.
60. Paillard, D., L. Labeyrie, and P. Yiou (1996), Macintosh program performs time-series analysis, Eos Trans. AGU, 77, 379.
61. Partridge, T. C. (2002), Were Heinrich events forced from the southern hemisphere?, S. Afr. J. Sci., 98, 43-46.
62. Partridge, T. C., P. B. deMenocal, S. A. Lorentz, M. J. Paiker, and J. C. Vogel (1997), Orbital forcing of climate over South Africa: A 200,000-year rainfall record from the Pretoria saltpan, Quat. Sci. Rev., 16, 1125-1133.
63. Partridge, T. C., L. Scott, and R. R. Schneider (2004), Between Agulhas and Benguela: Responses of Southern African climates of the Late Pleistocene to current fluxes, orbital precession and the extent of the Circum-Antarctic vortex, in Past Climatic Variability Through Europe and Africa, edited by R. W. Battarbee, F. Gasse, and C. E. Stickley, pp. 45-68, Springer, New York.
64. Pastouret, L., H. Chamley, G. Delibrias, J. C. Duplessy, and J. Thiede (1978), Late Quaternary climatic changes in western tropical Africa deduced from deep-sea sedimentation off the Niger delta, Oceanol. Acta, 1, 217-232.
65. Patterson, G., and O. Kachinjika (1995), Limnology and phytoplankton ecology, in The Fishery Potential and Productivity of the Pelagic Zone of Lake Malawi/Niassa. Scientific Report of the UK/SADC Pelagic Fish Resource Assessment Project, edited by A. Menz, 67 pp., Nat. Resour. Inst. (ODA), Chatham, UK.
66. Peck, J. A., R. R. Green, T. Shanahan, J. W. King, J. T. Overpeck, and C. A. Scholz (2004), A magnetic mineral record of Late Quaternary tropical climate variability from Lake Bosumwi, Ghana, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 215, 37-57.
67. Peterson, L. C., and G. H. Haug (2006), Variability in the mean latitude of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone as recorded in the riverine inputs of sediments to the Cariaco Basin (Venezuela), Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 234, 97-113.
68. Plisnier, P.-D., D. Chitamwebwa, L. Mwape, K. Tshibangu, V. Langenberg, and E. Coenen (1999), Limnological annual cycle inferred from physical-chemical fluctuations at three stations of Lake Tanganyika, Hydrobiologia, 407, 45-58.
69. Powers, L. A., T. C. Johnson, J. P. Werne, I. S. Castañeda, E. C. Hopmans, J. S. Sinninghe Damsté, and S. Schouten (2005), Large temperature variability in the southern African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L08706, doi:10.1029/2004GL022014. (Pubitemid 41043277)
70. Roberts, N., M. Taieb, P. Barker, B. Damnati, M. Icole, and D. Williamson (1993), Timing of the Younger Dryas event in East Africa from lake-level changes, Nature, 366, 146-148.
71. Rohling, E. J., P. A. Mayewski, and P. Challenor (2003), On the timing and mechanism of millennial-scale climate variability during the last glacial cycle, Clim. Dyn., 20, 257-267.
72. Röthlisberger, R., R. Mulvaney, E. W. Wolff, M. A. Hutterli, M. Bigler, S. Sommer, and J. Jouzel (2002), Dust and sea salt variability in central East Antarctica (Dome C) over the last 45 kyrs and its implications for southern high-latitude climate, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(20), 1963, doi:10.1029/2002GL015186.
73. Russell, J., M. R. Talbot, and B. J. Haskell (2003), Mid-Holocene climate change in Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, Quat. Res., 60, 133-141.
74. Schefuss, E., S. Schouten, and R. R. Schneider (2005), Climatic controls on central African hydrology during the past 20,000 years, Nature, 437, 1003-1006.
75. Seager, R., and D. S. Battisti (2007), Challenges to our understanding of the general circulation: Abrupt climate change, in The General Circulation of the Atmosphere, edited by T. Schneider and A. S. Sobel, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, in press.
76. Severinghaus, J. P., T. Sowers, E. J. Brook, R. B. Alley, and M. L. Bender (1998), Timing of abrupt climate change at the end of the Younger Dryas interval from thermally fractionated gases in polar ice, Nature, 391, 141-146.
77. Shanahan, T., J. T. Overpeck, C. W. Wheeler, J. W. Beck, J. S. Pigati, M. R. Talbot, C. A. Scholz, J. Peck, and J. W. King (2006), Paleoclimatic variations in West Africa from a record of late Pleistocene and Holocene lake level stands of Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 242, 287-302.
78. Shi, N., L. M. Dupont, H.-J. Beug, and R. Schneider (1998), Vegetation and climate changes during the last 21000 years in S.W. Africa based on a marine pollen record, Vegetation Hist. Archaeobot., 7, 127-140.
79. Sirocko, F. (1996), The evolution of the monsoon climate over the Arabian Sea during the last 24,000 years, Palaeoecol. Afr., 24, 53-70.
80. Stager, J. C., P. A. Mayewski, and L. D. Meeker (2002), Cooling cycles, Heinrich event 1, and the desiccation of Lake Victoria, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 183, 169-178.
81. Stocker, T. F., and S. J. Johnsen (2003), A minimum thermodynamic model for the bipolar seesaw, Paleoceanography, 18(4), 1087, doi:10.1029/2003PA000920.
82. Street-Perrott, F., and R. A. Perrott (1993), Holocene vegetation, lake levels, and climate of Africa, in Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum, edited by H. E. Wright et al., pp. 318-356, Univ. of Minn. Press, Minneapolis.
83. Stuiver, M., P. J. Reimer, E. Bard, J. W. Beck, G. S. Burr, K. A. Hughen, B. Kromer, G. McCormac, J. VanderPlicht, and M. Spurk (1998), INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP, Radiocarbon, 40, 1041-1083.
84. Stuut, J.-B. W., X. Crosta, K. Van der Borg, and R. Schneider (2004), Relationship between Antarctic sea ice and southwest African climate during the late Quaternary, Geology, 32, 909-912.
85. Swezey, C. (2001), Eolian sediment responses to late Quaternary climate changes: Temporal and spatial patterns in the Sahara, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 167, 119-155.
86. Talbot, M. R. (2001), Nitrogen isotopes in palaeolimnology, in Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments, vol.2, Physical and Geochemical Methods, edited by W. M. Last and J. P. Smol, pp. 401-439, Springer, New York.
87. Talbot, M. R., and G. Delibrias (1980), A new late Pleistocene-Holocene water-level curve for Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 47, 336-344.
88. Talbot, M. R., and T. Johannessen (1992), A high-resolution palaeoclimatic record for the last 27,500 years in tropical West Africa from the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of lacustrine organic matter, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 110, 23-37.
89. Talbot, M. R., and T. Lærdal (2000), The Late Pleistocene-Holocene palaeolimnology of Lake Victoria, East Africa, based upon elemental and isotopic analyses of sedimentary organic matter, J. Paleolimnol., 23, 141-164.
90. Talbot, M. R., and D. A. Livingstone (1989), Hydrogen index and carbon isotopes of lacustrine organic matter as lake level indicators, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 70, 121-137.
91. Talbot, M. R., D. A. Livingstone, P. G. Palmer, J. Maley, J. M. Melack, G. Delibrias, and S. Gulliksen (1984), Preliminary results from sediment cores from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, Palaeoecol. Afr., 16, 173-192.
92. Talbot, M. R., N. B. Jensen, T. Lærdal, and M. L. Filippi (2006), Geochemical responses to a major transgression in giant African lakes, J. Paleolimnol., 35, 467-489.
93. Thomas, D. S. G., and P. A. Shaw (2002), Late Quaternary environmental change in central southern Africa: New data, synthesis, issues and prospects, Quat. Sci. Rev., 21, 783-797.
94. Thompson, L. G., et al. (2002), Kilimanjaro ice core records: Evidence of Holocene climate change in tropical Africa, Science, 298, 589-593.
95. Tiercelin, J.-J., and A. Mondeguer (1991), The geology of the Tanganyika Trough, in Lake Tanganyika and Its Life, edited by G. W. Coulter, pp. 7-48, Oxford Univ. Press, New York.
96. Tyson, P. D. (1986), Climatic Change and Variability in Southern Africa, 220 pp., Oxford Univ. Press, New York.
97. Weldeab, S., R. R. Schneider, M. Kölling, and G. Wefer (2005), Holocene African droughts relate to eastern equatorial Atlantic cooling, Geology, 33, 981-984.