Journal article
Paleoclimate change in Ethiopia around the last interglacial derived from annually-resolved stalagmite evidence
A Asrat, A Baker, MJ Leng, J Hellstrom, G Mariethoz, I Boomer, D Yu, CN Jex, J Gunn
Quaternary Science Reviews | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2018
Abstract
Oxygen and carbon (δ18Ο/δ13C) isotope, growth rate and trace element data are reported for a U-Th dated, annually-laminated stalagmite, GM1 from Goda Mea Cave, Ethiopia. The stalagmite grew intermittently around the last interglacial. The proxy records are used to develop a conceptual growth model of the stalagmite and to assess its potential for revealing a climate signal in this climatically sensitive northeastern African region during an important period in the evolution of Homo sapiens and dispersal of Anatomically Modern Humans out of Africa. Speleothem deposition is of short-duration occurring at ∼129 ka, ∼120 ka, in an undated growth phase, and at ∼108 ka; probably due to tectonic act..
View full abstractRelated Projects (2)
Grants
Awarded by Royal Society
Funding Acknowledgements
[ "Stable isotope analyses were funded by NERC Isotope Geo-sciences Facility (IP-1099-0509) to AB, AA, CNJ and MJL. Fieldwork to the Mechara caves and subsequent sample preparation (lamina counting, drilling) was supported by START-PACOM grant to AA, a Royal Society grant to AA and AB, and a Leverhulme Trust International Network led by AB. U-Th analyses were supported by a UNSW Early Career Researcher grant to CNJ. The School of Earth Sciences of the Addis Ababa University supported and facilitated fieldwork. AA is grateful to the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin where he has been a fellow during the 2017/2018 Academic Year. We thank Henry Lamb and the late Mohammed Umer, who have been very helpful during the successive field trips to the Mechara caves. We would like to particularly recognize the significant contributions of Henry Lamb and Mohammed Umer to understanding the Holocene and Late Pleistocene climate history of Ethiopia. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and the editor for the valuable comments that helped to improve the manuscript. Chinese composite and Soreq Cave stalagmite data were obtained from that archived at the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pubidata/paleo/speleothem/asia/china/cheng2016composite.txt.", "ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/israel/soreq_peqiin_2003.txt." ]