Orbital- and millennial-scale changes in the hydrologic cycle and vegetation in the western African Sahel: Insights from individual plant wax δD and δ13C

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volumn 29, Issue 23-24, 2010, Pages 2996-3005

  Niedermeyer, Eva M ^a,b   Schefuß, Enno ^a   Sessions, Alex L ^b   Mulitza, Stefan ^a   Mollenhauer, Gesine ^a,c,d   Schulz, Michael ^a,c   Wefer, Gerold ^a,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN   (Germany)

^b CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF BREMEN   (Germany)

^d ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCH   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARIDIFICATION; CLIMATE VARIABILITY; CONTINENTAL SLOPE; HOLOCENES; HUMID PERIODS; HYDROGEN ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; HYDROLOGIC CYCLES; INSOLATION FORCING; LAST GLACIAL; LOCAL MAXIMUM; MARINE SEDIMENTS; N-ALKANES; NORTH ATLANTIC; RAINFALL INTENSITY; RAINFALL VARIABILITY; RAINY SEASONS; SENEGAL; STABLE CARBON; TERRESTRIAL PLANTS; TIME INTERVAL; TIME-SCALES; VEGETATION CHANGE; VEGETATION COMPOSITION; VEGETATION FEEDBACKS; WEST AFRICAN MONSOON; WET PERIOD; YOUNGER DRYAS;

ATMOSPHERIC THERMODYNAMICS; CLIMATE CHANGE; ISOTOPES; PARAFFINS; RAIN; SEDIMENTS; SOLAR RADIATION; SUBMARINE GEOLOGY;

VEGETATION;

ARIDIFICATION; CLIMATE VARIATION; CONTINENTAL SLOPE; HOLOCENE; HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE; ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; LAST GLACIAL; MARINE SEDIMENT; PLANT; PRECIPITATION INTENSITY; RAINFALL; SEDIMENT CORE; STABLE ISOTOPE; TIMESCALE; VEGETATION DYNAMICS; VEGETATION HISTORY; WAX;

SAHEL [SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA];

EID: 77957336577     PISSN: 02773791     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.06.039     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. 230Th in Ocean Drilling Program Hole 658C. Paleoceanography 2006, 21.
2. Alley R.B., Ágústsdóttir A.M. The 8k event: cause and consequences of a major Holocene abrupt climate change. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2005, 24:1123-1149.
3. Alley R.B., Cuffey K.M. Oxygen- and hydrogen-isotopic ratios of water in precipitation: beyond paleothermometry. Mineralogical Society of America & Geochemical Society 2001, J.W. Valley, D.R. Cole (Eds.).
4. Alley R.B., Mayewski P.A., Sowers T., Stuiver M., Taylor K.C., Clark P.U. Holocene climatic instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 year ago. Geology 1997, 25:483-486.
5. Berger A.L. Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary climatic changes. J. Atmos. Sci. 1978, 35:2362-2367.
6. 2 and fire in promoting the spread of grasslands and savannas. Glob. Change Biol. 2003, 9:973-982.
7. Bowen G.J. Gridded maps of the isotopic composition of meteoric precipitation. 2009, http://www.waterisotopes.org.
8. Bowen G.J., Revenaugh J. Interpolating the isotopic composition of modern meteoric precipitation. Water Resour. Res. 2003, 39:1299.
9. Charney J.G. Dynamics of deserts and drought in the Sahel. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc. 1975, 101:193-202.
10. 13C analyses of n-alkanes extracted from terrestrial and aquatic plants. Phytochemistry 2003, 63:361-371.
11. Claussen M., Kubatzki C., Brovkin V., Ganopolski A., Hoelzmann P., Pachur H.-J. Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation in the mid-Holocene. Geophys. Res. Lett. 1999, 26:2037-2040.
12. 4 grasses: present, past, and future. Oecologia 1998, 114:441-454.
13. 13C analyses of leaf lipids from plants with differing carbon dioxide metabolism. Org. Geochem. 1994, 21:619-627.
14. Craig H. Isotopic variations in meteoric waters. Science 1961, 133:1702-1703.
15. Dansgaard W. Stable Isotopes in Precipitation 1964, vol. 16. Tellus, Sweden, p. 436-468.
16. deMenocal P.B., Ortiz J., Guilderson T., Adkins J., Sarnthein M., Baker L., Yarusinsky M. Abrupt onset and termination of the African humid period: rapid climate response to gradual insolation forcing. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2000, 19:347-361.
17. 18O in the leaves of transpiring plants. Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 1974, 11:41-52.
18. Dupont L.M. Vegetation zones in NW Africa during the brunhes chron reconstructed from marine palynological data. Quat. Sci. Rev. 1993, 12:189-202.
19. Eglinton G., Hamilton R.J. Leaf epicuticular waxes. Science 1967, 156:1322-1335.
20. Ellison C.R.W., Chapman M.R., Hall I.R. Surface and deep ocean interactions during the cold climate event 8200 years ago. Science 2006, 312:1929-1932.
21. Epstein S., Thompson P., Yapp C.J. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios in plant cellulose. Science 1977, 198:1209-1215.
22. Fairbanks R.G., Mortlock R.A., Chiu T.-C., Cao L., Kaplan A., Guilderson T.P., Fairbanks T.W., Bloom A.L., Grootes P.M., Nadeau M.-J. Radiocarbon calibration curve spanning 0 to 50,000 years BP based on paired 230Th/234U/238U and 14C dates on pristine corals. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2005, 24:1781-1796.
23. Feakins S.J., Sessions A.L. Controls on the D/H ratios of plant leaf waxes in an arid ecosystem. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2010, 74:2128-2141.
24. 4 plant species under field conditions. Oecologia 1991, 88:394-400.
25. Gac J.-Y., Kane A. Le fleuve Sénégal: I. Bilan hydrologique et flux continentaux de matières particulaires a l'embouchure. Sci. Géol. Bull. 1986, 39:99-130.
26. Ganopolski A., Kubatzki C., Claussen M., Brovkin V., Petoukhov V. The influence of vegetation-atmosphere-ocean interaction on climate during the mid-Holocene. Science 1998, 280:1916-1919.
27. Gasse F. Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2000, 19:189-211.
28. Gasse F., Van Campo E. Abrupt post-glacial climate events in West Asia and North Africa monsoon domains. Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett. 1994, 126:435-456.
29. Gong C., Eltahir E. Sources of moisture for rainfall in West Africa. Water. Resour. Res. 1996, 32:3115-3121.
30. Grootes P.M., Stuiver M. Oxygen 18/16 variability in Greenland snow and ice with 10-3 to 105-year time resolution. J. Geophys. Res. 1997, 102:26455-26470.
31. Hou J., D'Andrea W.J., Huang Y. Can sedimentary leaf waxes record D/H ratios of continental precipitation? Field, model, and experimental assessments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2008, 72:3503-3517.
32. Hou J., D'Andrea W.J., MacDonald D., Huang Y. Hydrogen isotopic variability in leaf waxes among terrestrial and aquatic plants around Blood Pond, Massachusetts (USA). Org. Geochem. 2007, 38:977-984.
33. 4 plant input from north West Africa into north East Atlantic sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2000, 64:3505-3513.
34. Huang Y., Shuman B., Wang Y., Webb T. Hydrogen isotope ratios of individual lipids in lake sediments as novel tracers of climatic and environmental change: a surface sediment test. J. Paleolimnol. 2004, 31:363-375.
35. 2 concentration from 60 to 20kyr BP from the Taylor Dome ice core, Antarctica. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2000, 27:735-738.
36. 2 trapped in ice at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. Nature 1999, 398:121-126.
37. Itambi A.C., Von Dobeneck T., Mulitza S., Bickert T., Heslop D. Millennial-scale northwest African droughts related to Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles: evidence in marine sediments from offshore Senegal. Paleoceanography 2009, 24.
38. Johnsen S.J., Clausen H.B., Dansgaard W., Gundestrup N.S., Hammer C.U., Andersen U., Andersen K.K., Hvidberg C.S., Dahl-Jensen D., Steffensen J.P., Shoji H., Sveinbjörnsdóttir Á.E., White J., Jouzel J., Fishe D. The δ18O record along the Greenland Ice Core Project deep ice core and the problem of possible Eemian climatic instability. J. Geophys. Res. 1997, 102:26397-26410.
39. Jullien E., Grousset F., Malaize B., Duprat J., Sánchez-Goni M.-F., Eynaud F., Charlier K., Schneider R., Bory A., Bout V., Flores J.A. Low-latitude " dusty events" vs. high latitude 'icy Heinrich events" Quat. Res. 2007, 68:379-386.
40. Kolattukudy P.E. Chemistry and Biochemistry of Natural Waxes 1976, Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co., Amsterdam, New York.
41. Kröpelin S., Verschuren D., Lézine A.-M., Eggermont H., Cocquyt C., Francus P., Cazet J.-P., Fagot M., Rumes B., Russel J.M., Darius F., Conley D.J., Schuster M., von Suchodoletz H., Engstrom D.R. Climate-driven ecosystem succession in the Sahara: the past 6000 years. Science 2008, 320:765-768.
42. Kutzbach J., Bonan G., Foley J., Harrison S.P. Vegetation and soil feedbacks on the response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing in the early to middle Holocene. Nature 1996, 384:623-626.
43. Kutzbach J.E. Monsoon climate of the early Holocene: climate experiment with the earth's orbital parameters for 9000 years ago. Science 1981, 214:59-61.
44. Kutzbach J.E., Liu Z. Response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing and ocean feedbacks in the middle Holocene. Science 1997, 278:440-443.
45. Larcher W. Physiological Plant Ecology: Ecophysiology and Stress Physiology of Functional Groups 2003, Springer.
46. Lézine A.-M. Late quaternary vegetation and climate of the Sahel. Quat. Res. 1989, 32:317-334.
47. Lézine A.-M. Timing of vegetation changes at the end of the Holocene Humid Period in desert areas at the northern edge of the Atlantic and Indian monsoon systems. Compt. Rend. Geosci. 2009, 341:750-759.
48. Lézine A.-M., Casanova J. Correlated oceanic and continental records demonstrate past climate and hydrology of North Africa (0-140ka). Geology 1991, 19:307-310.
49. Lézine A.M. New pollen data from the Sahel, Senegal. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 1988, 55:141-154.
50. Lézine A.M., Hooghiemstra H. Land-sea comparisons during the last glacial-interglacial transition: pollen records from West Tropical Africa. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 1990, 79:313-331.
51. Liu W., Yang H. Multiple controls for the variability of hydrogen isotopic compositions in higher plant n-alkanes from modern ecosystems. Glob. Change Biol. 2008, 14:2166-2177.
52. Liu W., Yang H., Li L. Hydrogen isotopic compositions of n-alkanes from terrestrial plants correlate with their ecological life forms. Oecologia 2006, 150:330-338.
53. Maley J., Brenac P. Vegetation dynamics, palaeoenvironments and climatic changes in the forests of western Cameroon during the last 28,000 years B.P. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 1998, 99:157-187.
54. Masson-Delmotte V., Jouzel J., Landais A., Stievenard M., Johnsen S.J., White J.W.C., Werner M., Sveinbjornsdottir A., Fuhrer K. GRIP deuterium excess reveals rapid and orbital-scale changes in Greenland moisture origin. Science 2005, 309:118-121.
55. McIntyre A., Ruddiman W.F., Karlin K., Mix A.C. Surface water response of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean to orbital forcing. Paleoceanography 1989, 4:19-55.
56. McManus J.F., Francois R., Gherardi J.M., Keigwin L.D., Brown-Leger S. Collapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes. Nature 2004, 428:834-837.
57. Mulitza S., Bouimetarhan I., Brüning M., Freesemann A., Gussone N., Filipsson H., Heil G., Hessler S., Jaeschke A., Johnstone H., Klann M., Klein F., Küster K., März C., McGregor H., Minning M., Müller H., Ochsenhirt W.-T., Paul A., Schewe F., Schulz M., Steinlöchner J., Stuut J.-B., Tjallingii R., von Dobeneck T., Wiesmaier S., Zabel M., Zonneveld K. Report and Preliminary Results of METEOR Cruise M65/1, Dakar-Dakar, 11.06-1.07.2005, Berichte, Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen 2006, University of Bremen, Bremen, p. 151.
58. Mulitza S., Prange M., Stuut J.-B., Zabel M., von Dobeneck T., Itambi A.C., Nizou J., Schulz M., Wefer G. Sahel megadroughts triggered by glacial slowdowns of Atlantic meridional overturning. Paleoceanography 2008, 23.
59. Nicholson S. A revised picture of the structure of the " monsoon" and land ITCZ over West Africa. Clim. Dynam. 2009, 32:1155-1171.
60. Niedermeyer E.M., Prange M., Mulitza S., Mollenhauer G., Schefuß E., Schulz M. Extratropical forcing of Sahel aridity during Heinrich Stadials. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2009, 36.
61. O'Leary M.H. Carbon isotopic fractionation in plants. Phytochemistry 1981, 20:553-567.
62. Peck J.A., Green R.R., Shanahan T., King J.W., Overpeck J.T., Scholz C.A. A magnetic mineral record of Late Quaternary tropical climate variability from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2004, 215:37-57.
63. Pendall E., Williams D., Leavitt S. Comparison of measured and modeled variations in piñon pine leaf water isotopic enrichment across a summer moisture gradient. Oecologia 2005, 145:605-618.
64. Pokras E.M., Mix A.C. Earth's precession cycle and quaternary climatic change in tropical Africa. Nature 1987, 326:486-487.
65. Rieley G., Collister J.W., Stern B., Eglinton G. Gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry of leaf wax n-alkanes from plants of differing carbon dioxide metabolism. Rapid. Commun. Mass. Spectrom. 1993, 7:488-491.
66. 18O and δD) of precipitation and water vapor in the tropics: 2. Physical interpretation of the amount effect. J. Geophys. Res. 2008, 113.
67. Risi C., Bony S., Vimeux F., Descroix L., Ibrahim B., Lebreton E., Mamadou I., Sultan B. What controls the isotopic composition of the African monsoon precipitation? Insights from event-based precipitation collected during the 2006 AMMA field campaign. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2008, 35.
68. Rossignol-Strick M. African monsoons, an immediate climate response to orbital insolation. Nature 1983, 304:46-49.
69. Rozanski K., Araguas-Araguas L., Gonfiantini R. Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation. Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records, Geophysical Monograph 1993, American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, p. 781-36.
70. Rybicki G.B., Press W.H. Class of fast methods for processing irregularly sampled or otherwise inhomogeneous one-dimensional data. Phys. Rev. Lett. Am. Phys. Soc. 1995, 1060.
71. Sachse D., Radke J., Gleixner G. Hydrogen isotope ratios of recent lacustrine sedimentary n-alkanes record modern climate variability. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2004, 68:4877-4889.
72. Sachse D., Radke J., Gleixner G. δD values of individual n-alkanes from terrestrial plants along a climatic gradient - implications for the sedimentary biomarker record. Org. Geochem. 2006, 37:469-483.
73. Salzmann U., Hoelzmann P., Morczinek I. Late quaternary climate and vegetation of the Sudanian zone of Northeast Nigeria. Quat. Res. 2002, 58:73-83.
74. Sarnthein M., Stattegger K., Dreger D., Erlenkeuser H., Grootes P., Haupt B., Jung S., Kiefer T., Kuhnt W., Pflaumann U., Schäfer-Neth C., Schulz H., Schulz M., Seidov D., Simstich J., van Kreveld S., Vogelsang E., Völker A., Weinelt M. Fundamental modes and abrupt changes in North Atlantic circulation over the last 60ky - concepts, reconstruction and numerical modeling. The Northern North Atlantic: A Changing Environment 2001, 365-410. Springer, Berlin. P. Schäfer, W. Ritzrau, M. Schlüter, J. Thiede (Eds.).
75. Sarnthein M., Tetzlaff G., Koopmann B., Wolter K., Pflaumann U. Glacial and interglacial wind regimes over the eastern subtropical Atlantic and North-West Africa. Nature 1981, 193-196.
76. Schefuß E., Ratmeyer V., Stuut J.-B.W., Jansen J.H.F., Sinnighe Damsté J.S. Carbon isotope analyses of n-alkanes in dust from the lower atmosphere over the central eastern Atlantic. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2003, 67:1757-1767.
77. Schefuß E., Schouten S., Schneider R.R. Climatic controls on central African hydrology during the past 20,000 years. Nature 2005, 437:1003-1006.
78. Schrag D.P., Adkins J.F., McIntyre K., Alexander J.L., Hodell D.A., Charles C.D., McManus J.F. The oxygen isotopic composition of seawater during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2002, 21:331-342.
79. 3+ contributions in hydrogen isotope ratio monitoring mass spectrometry. Anal. Chem. 2001, 73:192-199.
80. Sessions A.L., Burgoyne T.W., Schimmelmann A., Hayes J.M. Fractionation of hydrogen isotopes in lipid biosynthesis. Org. Geochem. 1999, 30:1193-1200.
81. Shackleton N.J., Fairbanks R.G., Chiu T.-C., Parrenin F. Absolute calibration of the Greenland time scale: implications for Antarctic time scales and for Δ14C. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2004, 1513-1522.
82. Shanahan T.M., Overpeck J.T., Scholz C.A., Beck J.W., Peck J., King J.W. Abrupt changes in the water balance of tropical west Africa during the late Quaternary. J. Geophys. Res. 2008, 113.
83. Shanahan T.M., Overpeck J.T., Wheeler C.W., Beck J.W., Pigati J.S., Talbot M.R., Scholz C.A., Peck J., King J.W. Paleoclimatic variations in West Africa from a record of late Pleistocene and Holocene lake level stands of Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2006, 242:287-302.
84. Simoneit B.R.T., Cox R.E., Standley L.J. Organic matter of the troposphere-IV. Lipids in harmattan aerosols of Nigeria. Atmos. Environ. 1989, 983-1004.
85. 4 grasses. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2006, 70:1172-1187.
86. Stuut J.-B., Zabel M., Ratmeyer V., Helmke P., Schefuß E., Lavik G., Schneider R. Provenance of present-day eolian dust collected off NW Africa. J. Geophys. Res. 2005, 110.
87. Talbot M.R., Johannessen T. 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. 1992, 110:23-37.
88. Tierney J.E., Russell J.M., Huang Y., Damste J.S.S., Hopmans E.C., Cohen A.S. Northern hemisphere controls on tropical Southeast African climate during the past 60,000 years. Science 2008, 252-255.
89. Tjallingii R., Claussen M., Stuut J.-B.W., Fohlmeister J., Jahn A., Bickert T., Lamy F., Röhl U. Coherent high- and low-latitude control of the northwest African hydrological balance. Nat. Geosci 2008, 1:670-675.
90. Waelbroeck C., Labeyrie L., Michel E., Duplessy J.C., McManus J.F., Lambeck K., Balbon E., Labracherie M. Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quat. Sci. Rev. 2002, 21:295-305.
91. Walter H. Klimatisch Bedingte Savannen. Gräser und Holzarten als Antagonisten, Vegetationszonen und Klima 1970, Ulmer, Stuttgart.
92. Wang Y.J., Cheng H., Edwards R.L., An Z.S., Wu J.Y., Shen C.C., Dorale J.A. A high-resolution absolute-dated late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China. Science 2001, 294:2345-2348.
93. Watrin J., Lézine A.-M., Hély C. Plant migration and plant communities at the time of the ″ green Sahara. Compt. Rend. Geosci. 2009, 341:656-670.
94. Weldeab S., Lea D.W., Schneider R.R., Andersen N. 155,000 years of west African monsoon and ocean thermal evolution. Science 2007, 316:1303-1307.
95. White F. The Vegetation of Africa, Natural Resources Research 1983, UNESCO, Paris.
96. Worden J., Noone D., Bowman K. Importance of rain evaporation and continental convection in the tropical water cycle. Nature 2007, 445:528-532.
97. Yuan D., Cheng H., Edwards R.L., Dykoski C.A., Kelly M.J., Zhang M., Qing J., Lin Y., Wang Y., Wu J., Dorale J.A., An Z., Cai Y. Timing, duration, and transitions of the Last Interglacial Asian monsoon. Science 2004, 304:575-578.