Paleosol carbonates from the omo group: Isotopic records of local and regional environmental change in east africa

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

Volumn 307, Issue 1-4, 2011, Pages 75-89

  Levin, Naomi E ^a,b   Brown, Francis H ^b   Behrensmeyer, Anna K ^c   Bobe, René ^d   Cerling, Thure E ^b  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF UTAH   (United States)

^c DEPARTMENT OF PALEOBIOLOGY   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Carbon isotopes; East Africa; Omo Turkana Basin; Oxygen isotopes; Pedogenic carbonate; Pleistocene; Pliocene

Indexed keywords

C3 PLANT; C4 PLANT; CARBON ISOTOPE; CARBONATE; CLIMATE CHANGE; DATA SET; ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE; FLOODPLAIN; FOSSIL RECORD; HYDROLOGY; ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS; ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; OXYGEN ISOTOPE; PALEOBOTANY; PALEOECOLOGY; PALEOENVIRONMENT; PALEOSOL; PLEISTOCENE; PLIOCENE; SEDIMENTARY ROCK; VEGETATION STRUCTURE;

EAST AFRICA;

EID: 79960407026     PISSN: 00310182     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.04.026     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Ahmad N. Vertisols. Pedogenesis and Soil Taxonomy 1983, 91-123. Elsevier, New York. L.P. Wilding, N.E. Smeck, G.F. Hall (Eds.).
2. Alemseged Z., Spoor F., Kimbel W.H., Bobe R., Geraads D., Reed D., Wynn J.G. A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 2006, 443:296-301.
3. Amundson R., Chadwick O., Kendall C., Wang Y., Deniro M. Isotopic evidence for shifts in atmospheric circulation patterns during the late Quaternary in mid-North America. Geology 1996, 24:23-26.
4. Aronson J.L., Hailemichael M., Savin S.M. Hominid environments at Hadar from paleosol studies in a framework of Ethiopian climate change. Journal of Human Evolution 2008, 55:532-550.
5. Ashley G.M. Orbital rhythms, monsoons, and playa lake response, Olduvai Basin, equatorial East Africa (ca. 1.85-1.74Ma). Geology 2007, 35:1091-1094.
6. Barnes C.J., Turner J.V. Isotopic exchange in soil water. Isotope Tracers in Catchment Hydrology 1998, 137-163. Elsevier, Amsterdam. C. Kendall, J.J. McDonnell (Eds.).
7. Behrensmeyer A.K., Bobe R., Campisano C.J., Levin N. High resolution taphonomy and paleoecology of the Plio-Pleistocene Koobi Fora Formation, northern Kenya, with comparisons to the Hadar Formation, Ethiopia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2004, 24(Supplement to #3):38A.
8. Behrensmeyer A.K., Quade J., Cerling T.E., Kappelman J., Khan I.A., Copeland P., Roe L., Hicks J., Stubblefield P., Willis B.J., Latorre C. The structure and rate of late Miocene expansion of C4 plants: Evidence from lateral variation in stable isotopes in paleosols of the Siwalik Group, northern Pakistan. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2007, 119:1486-1505.
9. Bobe R., Behrensmeyer A.K. The expansion of grassland ecosystems in Africa in relation to mammalian evolution and the origin of the genus Homo. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2004, 207:399-420.
10. Bonnefille R. Evidence for a cooler and drier climate in the Ethiopian uplands towards 2.5Myr ago. Nature 1983, 303:487-491.
11. Breecker D.O., Sharp Z.D., McFadden L.D. Seasonal bias in the formation and stable isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate in modern soils from central New Mexico, USA. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2009, 121:630-640.
12. Brown F.H., Feibel C.S. "Robust" hominids and Plio-Pleistocene paleogeography of the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Evolutionary history of the "Robust" Australopithecines 1988, 325-341. Aldine de Gruyter, New York. F.E. Grine (Ed.).
13. Brown F.H., Feibel C.S. Stratigraphy, depositional environments, and palaeogeography of the Koobi Fora Formation. The Fossil Ungulates: Geology, Fossil Artiodactyls, and Palaeoenvironments 1991, Vol. 3:1-30. Clarendon Press, Oxford. J.M. Harris (Ed.).
14. Brown F., Harris J., Leakey R., Walker A. Early Homo erectus skeleton from west Lake Turkana, Kenya. Nature 1985, 316:788-792.
15. Brown F.H., Sarna-Wojcicki A.M., Meyer C.E., Haileab B. Correlation of Pliocene and Pleistocene tephra layers between the Turkana Basin of East Africa and the Gulf of Aden. Quaternary International 1992, 13(14):55-67.
16. Brown F.H., Haileab B., McDougall I. Sequence of tuffs between the KBS Tuff and the Chari Tuff in the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Journal Geological Society London 2006, 163:185-204.
17. Bruhn R.L., Brown F.H., Gathogo P.N., Haileab B. Pliocene volcano-tectonics and paleogeography of the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Journal of African Earth Sciences 2011, 59:295-312.
18. Campisano C.J., Feibel C.S. Depositional environments and stratigraphic summary of the Pliocene Hadar Formation at Hadar, Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 2008, 446:179-201. J. Quade, J.G. Wynn (Eds.).
19. Cande S.C., Kent D.V. Revised calibration of the geomagnetic polarity timescale for the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Journal of Geophysical Research 1995, 100:6093-6095.
20. Cane M.A., Molnar P. Closing of the Indonesian seaway as a precursor to east African aridification around 3-4million years ago. Nature 2001, 411:157-162.
21. Cerling T.E. A mass-balance approach to basin sedimentation: constraints on the recent history of the Turkana Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1986, 54:63-86.
22. Cerling T.E. Development of grasslands and savannas in East Africa during the Neogene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1992, 97:241-247.
23. Cerling T.E. Stable carbon isotopes in palaeosol carbonates. Special Publications of the International Association of Sedimentology 1999, 43-60. M. Thiry, R. Simon-Coincon (Eds.).
24. Cerling T.E., Quade J. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in soil carbonates. Geophysical Monograph. American Geophysical Union 1993, 217-231. P.K. Swart, K.C. Lohmann, J. McKenzie, S. Savin (Eds.).
25. Cerling T.E., Bowman J.R., O'Neil J.R. An isotopic study of a fluvial-lacustrine sequence: the Plio-Pleistocene Koobi Fora sequence, East Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1988, 63:335-356.
26. Cerling T.E., Solomon D.K., Quade J., Bowman J.R. On the isotopic composition of carbon in soil carbon dioxide. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 1991, 55:3403-3405.
27. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., Passey B.H. Diets of East African Bovidae based on stable isotope analysis. Journal of Mammalogy 2003, 84:456-470.
28. Cerling T.E., Levin N.E., Quade J., Wynn J.G., Fox D.L., Kingston J.D., Klein R.G., Brown F.H. Comment on the Paleoenvironment of Ardipithecus ramidus. Science 2010, 328:1105-d.
29. Chaisson W.P. Pliocene development of the east-west hydrographic gradient in the equatorial Pacific. Paleoceanography 2000, 15:497-505.
30. Clark J.D., de Heinzelin J., Schick K.D., Hart W.K., White T.D., WoldeGabriel G., Walter R.C., Suwa G., Asfaw B., Vrba E., Haile-Selassie Y. African Homo erectus: old radiometric ages and young Oldowan assemblages in the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia. Science 1994, 264:1907-1910.
31. Craig H., Gordon L.I. Deuterium and oxygen-18 variations in the ocean and the marine atmosphere. Stable isotopes in oceanographic studies and paleotemperatures 1965, 9-130. V. Lischi, Spoleto, Italy. E. Tongiorgi (Ed.).
32. Dansgaard W. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 1964, 16:436-468.
33. Davidson G.R. The stable isotopic composition and measurement of carbon in soil CO2. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 1995, 59:2485-2489.
34. de Heinzelin J. The Omo Group: Archives of the International Omo Research Expedition. Musee Royal de L'Afrique Centrale, serie in 8°, Tervuren 1983.
35. Deino A.L., Kingston J.D., Glen J.M., Edgar R.K., Hill A. Precessional forcing of lacustrine sedimentation in the late Cenozoic Chemeron Basin, Central Kenya Rift, and calibration of the Gauss/Matuyama boundary. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2006, 247:41-60.
36. deMenocal P.B. African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2004, 220:3-24.
37. East African Meteorological Department Climatological Statistics for East Africa 1975, East African Meteorological Department, Nairobi, Kenya.
38. Farquhar G.D., Ehleringer J.R., Hubick K.T. Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 1989, 40:503-537.
39. Feakins S.J., deMenocal P.B., Eglinton T.I. Biomarker records of late Neogene changes in northeast African vegetation. Geology 2005, 33:977-980.
40. Feakins S.J., Eglinton T.I., deMenocal P.B. A comparison of biomarker records of northeast African vegetation from lacustrine and marine sediments (ca. 3.4Ma). Organic Geochemistry 2007, 38:1607-1624.
41. Feibel, C.S., 1988. Paleoenvironments of the Koobi Fora Formation, Turkana Basin, Northern Kenya. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 330 pp.
42. Feibel C.S., Brown F.H., McDougall I. Stratigraphic context of fossil hominids from the Omo Group deposits: northern Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 1989, 78:595-622.
43. Feibel C.S., Harris J.M., Brown F.H. Palaeoenvironmental context for the late Neogene of the Turkana Basin. The Fossil Ungulates: Geology, Fossil Artiodactyls, and Palaeoenvironments Koobi Fora Research Project 1991, Vol. 3:321-370. Clarendon Press, Oxford. J.M. Harris (Ed.).
44. Francey R.J., et al. A 1000-year high precision record of δ13C in atmospheric CO2. Tellus 1999, 51B:170-193.
45. Gani N.D., Gani M.R., Abdelsalam M.G. Blue Nile incision on the Ethiopian Plateau: pulsed plateau growth, Pliocene uplift, and hominin evolution. GSA Today 2007, 17:4-11.
46. Haesaerts P., Stoops G., van Vliet-Lanoe B. Data on sediments and fossil soils. The Omo Group: Archives of the International Omo Research Expedition 1983, 149-185. Musee Royal de L'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren. J. de Heinzelin (Ed.).
47. Hailemichael M., Aronson J.L., Savin S., Tevesz M.J.S., Carter J.G. δ18O in mollusk shells from Pliocene Lake Hadar and modern Ethiopian lakes: implications for history of the Ethiopian monsoon. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2002, 186:81-99.
48. Harris J.M., Brown F.H., Leakey M.G. Stratigraphy and paleontology of Pliocene and Pleistocene localities west of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Contributions in Science, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History 1988, 399:1-128.
49. Haug G.H., Hughen K.A., Sigman D.M., Peterson L.C., Röhl U. Southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone through the Holocene. Science 2001, 293:1304-1308.
50. Hillaire-Marcel C., Taieb M., Tiercelin J.J., Page N. A 1.2-Myr record of isotopic changes in a late Pliocene Rift Lake, Ethiopia. Nature 1982, 296:640-642.
51. Howell F.C., Haesaerts P., de Heinzelin J. Depositional environments, archeological occurrences and hominids from Members E and F of the Shungura Formation (Omo Basin, Ethiopia). Journal of Human Evolution 1987, 16:665-700.
52. Hsieh J.C.C., Chadwick O.A., Kelly E.F., Savin S.M. Oxygen isotopic composition of soil water: quantifying evaporation and transpiration. Geoderma 1998, 82:269-293.
53. Imbrie J., Boyle E.A., Clemens S.C., Duffy A., Howard W.R., Kukla G., Kutzbach J., Martinson D.G., McIntyre A., Mix A.C., Molfino B., Morley J.J., Peterson L.C., Pesias N.G., Prell W.L., Raymo M.E., Shackleton N.J., Toggweiler J.R. On the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles. pt. 1, linear responses to Milankovitch forcing. Paleoceanography 1992, 7:701-738.
54. Koobi Fora Research Project, Volume 5 Plio-Pleistocene Archaeology 1997, Clarendon Press, New York, 596 pp. G.L. Isaac (Ed.).
55. Jenny H. The soil resource: origin and behavior 1980, Springer Verlag, New York.
56. Johanson D.C., Taieb M., Coppens Y. Pliocene hominids from the Hadar Formation, Ethiopia (1973-1977): stratigraphic, chronologic, and paleoenvironmental contexts, with notes on hominid morphology and systematics. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 1982, 57:373-402.
57. Katoh S., Nagaoka S., WoldeGabriel G., Renne P., Snow M.G., Beyene Y., Suwa G. Chronostratigraphy and correlation of the Plio-Pleistocene tephra layers of the Konso Formation, southern Main Ethiopian Rift, Ethiopia. Quaternary Science Reviews 2000, 19:1305-1317.
58. Keeling C.D., Mook W.G., Tans P.P. Recent trends in the 13C/12C ratio of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Nature 1979, 277:121-123.
59. Kim S.-T., O'Neil J.R. Equilibrium and nonequilibrium oxygen isotope effects in synthetic carbonates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 1997, 61:3461-3475.
60. Kimbel W.H., Johanson D.C., Rak Y. The first skull and other new discoveries of Australopithecus afarensis at Hadar, Ethiopia. Nature 1994, 368:449-451.
61. Kimbel W.H., Walter R.C., Johanson D.C., Reed K.E., Aronson J.L., Assefa Z., Marean C.W., Eck G.G., Bobe R., Hovers E., Rak Y., Vondra C.F., Yemane T., York D., Chen Y., Evenson N.M., Smith P.E. Late Pliocene Homo and Oldowan tools from the Hadar Formation (Kada Hadar Member), Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 1996, 31:549-561.
62. Lambers H., Chapin F.S., Pons T.L. Plant Physiological Ecology 2008, Springer, New York.
63. Leakey M.G., Leakey R.E. The Fossil hominids and an introduction to their context, 1968-1974. Koobi Fora Research Project, 1 1978, Clarendon Press, New York, 191 pp.
64. Lepre C.J., Quinn R.L., Joordens J.C.A., Swisher C.C., Feibel C.S. 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 2007, 53:504-514.
65. Levin N.E., Quade J., Simpson S.W., Semaw S., Rogers M.J. Isotopic evidence for Plio-Pleistocene environmental change at Gona, Ethiopia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2004, 219:93-110.
66. Levin N.E., Zipser E.J., Cerling T.E. Isotopic composition of waters from Ethiopia and Kenya: insights into moisture sources for eastern Africa. Journal of Geophysical Research 2009, 114:D23306.
67. Liutkus C.M., Wright J.D., Ashley G.M., Sikes N.E. Paleoenvironmental interpretation of lake-margin deposits using delta C-13 and delta O-18 results from early Pleistocene carbonate rhizoliths, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Geology 2005, 33:377-380.
68. Machette M.N. Calcic soils of the southwestern United States. Geological Society of America, Special Papers 1985, 203:1-21.
69. McDougall I., Brown F.H. Precise 40Ar/39Ar geochronology for the upper Koobi Fora Formation, Turkana Basin, northern Kenya. Journal of the Geological Society of London 2006, 163:205-220.
70. McDougall I., Brown F.H. Geochronology of the pre-KBS Tuff sequence, Omo Group, Turkana Basin. Journal of the Geological Society of London 2008, 165:549-562.
71. McDougall I., Brown F.H., Fleagle J.G. Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia. Nature 2005, 433:733-736.
72. Nordt L.C., Wilding L.P., Lynn W.C., Crawford C.C. Vertisol genesis in a humid climate of the coastal plain of Texas, U.S.A. Geoderma 2004, 122:83-102.
73. Passey B.H., Levin N.E., Cerling T.E., Brown F.H., Eiler J.M. High-temperature environments of human evolution in East Africa based on bond ordering in paleosol carbonates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U. S. A. 2010, 107:11245-11249.
74. Quade J., Cerling T.E. Expansion of C4 grasses in the Late Miocene of Northern Pakistan: evidence from stable isotopes in paleosols. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1995, 115:91-116.
75. Quade, J. and Levin, N.E., in press. East African hominid paleoecology: isotopic evidence from paleosols, in: M. Sponheimer, K. Reed, J. Lee-Thorp and P. Ungar (Eds.), Early Hominin Paleoecology. University of Colorado Press.
76. Quade J., Cerling T.E., Bowman J.R. Systematic variations in the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate along elevation transects in the southern Great Basin, United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin 1989, 101:464-475.
77. Quade J., Levin N., Semaw S., Stout D., Renne P.R., Rogers M., Simpson S. Paleoenvironments of the earliest stone toolmakers, Gona, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2004, 116:1529-1544.
78. Quade J., Levin N.E., Simpson S.W., Butler R.F., McIntosh W., Semaw S., Kleinsasser L., Dupont-Nivet G., Renne P., Dunbar N. The Geology of Gona, Afar, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 2008, 446:1-31. J. Quade, J.G. Wynn (Eds.).
79. Quinn R.L., Lepre C.J., Wright J.D., Feibel C.S. Paleogeographic variations of pedogenic carbonate δ13C values from Koobi Fora, Kenya: implications for floral compositions of Plio-Pleistocene hominin environments. Journal of Human Evolution 2007, 53:560-573.
80. Retallack G.J. Pedogenic carbonate proxies for amount and seasonality of precipitation in paleosols. Geology 2005, 33:333-336.
81. Romanek C.S., Grossman E.L., Morse J.W. Carbon isotopic fractionation in synthetic aragonite and calcite: effects of temperature and precipitation rate. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 1992, 56:419-430.
82. Rozanski K., Araguas-Araguas L., Gonfiantini R. Isotope patterns of precipitation in the East African region. The Limnology, Climatology and aleoclimatology of the East African Lakes 1996, 79-93. Gordon & Breach, Amsterdam. T.C. Johnson, E.O. Odada (Eds.).
83. Semaw S., Renne P., Harris J.W.K., Feibel C.S., Bernor R.L., Fesseha N., Mowbray K. 2.5-million-year-old stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia. Nature 1997, 385:333-336.
84. Sepulchre P., Ramstein G., Fluteau F., Schuster M., Tiercelin J.-J., Brunet M. Tectonic uplift and eastern Africa aridification. Science 2006, 311:1419-1423.
85. Sikes N.E., Ashley G.M. Stable isotopes of pedogenic carbonates as indicators of paleoecology in the Plio-Pleistocene (upper Bed I), western margin of the Olduvai Basin, Tanzania. Journal of Human Evolution 2007, 53:574-594.
86. Simpson S.W., Quade J., Levin N.E., Butler R., Dupont-Nivet G., Everett M., Semaw S. A female Homo erectus pelvis from Gona, Ethiopia. Science 2008, 322:1089-1092.
87. Tieszen L.L., Senyimba M.M., Imbamba S.K., Troughton J.H. The distribution of C3 and C4 grasses and carbon isotope discrimination along an altitudinal and moisture gradient in Kenya. Oecologia 1979, 37:337-350.
88. Tipple B.J., Meyers S.R., Pagani M. Carbon isotope ratio of Cenozoic CO2: a comparative evaluation of available geochemical proxies. Paleoceanography 2010, 25:PA3202.
89. Trauth M.H., Maslin M.A., Deino A.L., Strecker M.R., Bergner A.G.N., Dühnforth M. High- and low-latitude forcing of Plio-Pleistocene East African climate and human evolution. Journal of Human Evolution 2007, 53:475-486.
90. van der Merwe N.J. The canopy effect, carbon isotope ratios and foodwebs in Amazonia. Journal of Archaeological Science 1991, 18:249-259.
91. White T.D., Asfaw B., Beyene Y., Haile-Selassie Y., Lovejoy C.O., Suwa G., WoldeGabriel G. Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids. Science 2009, 326:64.
92. WoldeGabriel G., Hart W.K., Katoh S., Beyene Y., Suwa G. Correlation of Plio-Pleistocene Tephra in Ethiopian and Kenyan rift basins: temporal calibration of geological features and hominid fossil records. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 2005, 147:81-108.
93. Wynn J.G. Paleosols, stable carbon isotopes, and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Kanapoi, northern Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution 2000, 39:411-432.
94. Wynn J.G. Influence of Plio-Pleistocene aridification on human evolution: evidence from paleosols of the Turkana Basin, Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2004, 123:106-118.
95. Wynn J.G., Alemseged Z., Bobe R., Geraads D., Reed D., Roman D.C. Geological and palaeontological context of a Pliocene juvenile hominin at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 2006, 443:332-336.
96. Wynn J.G., Roman D.C., Alemseged Z., Reed D., Geraads D., Munro S. Stratigraphy, depositional environments, and basin structure of the Hadar and Busidima Formation at Dikika, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 2008, 446:87-118. The Geological Society of America, Boulder. J. Quade, J.G. Wynn (Eds.).
97. Young H.J., Young T.P. Local distribution of C3 and C4 grasses in sites of overlap on Mount Kenya. Oecologia 1983, 58:373-377.