High-resolution record of Holocene climate change dynamics from southern Africa's temperate-tropical boundary, Baviaanskloof, South Africa

• Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
• Main Authors: Chase, Brian, Boom, Arnoud, Carr, Andrew, Quick, Lynne, J, Reimer, Paula
• Other Authors: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Leicester, Nelson Mandela University Port Elizabeth, Queen's University Belfast (QUB), European Project: 258657,EC:FP7:ERC,ERC-2010-StG_20091028,HYRAX(2010)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Palaeoclimate; Holocene; South Africa; Rock hyrax middens; Stable isotopes; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Sea ice; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02408419; https://hal.science/hal-02408419/document; https://hal.science/hal-02408419/file/Chase%20et%20al%202020_QSR_Baviaanskloof.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109518

International audience South Africa's southern Cape is a highly dynamic climatic region that is influenced by changes in both temperate and tropical atmospheric and oceanic circulation dynamics. Recent research initiatives suggest that the major elements of the regional climate system have acted both independently and in combination to establish a mosaic of distinct climate regions and potentially steep climate response gradients across the southern Cape. To consider this further, we present new high resolution δ 13 C and δ 15 N data from a rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) midden from Baviaanskloof, in the Cape Fold Mountains of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. Spanning the last 7200 years, these data provide detailed information regarding environmental changes in the mid-and late Holocene, allowing us to assess the spatio-temporal nature of climate change anomalies across the wider region. Throughout the full duration of the record, a negative correlation between humidity and palaeotemperature reconstructions from nearby Cango Cave is observed. In conjunction with correlations with Southern Ocean sea-surface temperatures and sea-ice presence, we infer a dominant influence of the southern westerlies in determining multi-millennial scale hydroclimate variability. At shorter, multi-centennial to millennial timescales, the Baviaanskloof data indicate a clearer expression of tropical influences, highlighting a delicate balance between the mechanisms driving regional climate dynamics across timescales, and the sensitivity of the region to changes in global boundary conditions.