The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period
The Sahara Desert, one of today’s most inhospitable environments, has known periods of enhanced precipitation that supported pre-historic humans. However, the Green Sahara timing and moisture sources are not well known due to limited paleoclimate information. Here, we present a multi-proxy (δ(18)O,...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:10320408 2023-07-30T04:05:26+02:00 The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period Ait Brahim, Yassine Sha, Lijuan Wassenburg, Jasper A. Azennoud, Khalil Cheng, Hai Cruz, Francisco W. Bouchaou, Lhoussaine 2023-06-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10320408/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107018 en eng Elsevier http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10320408/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107018 © 2023 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). iScience Article Text 2023 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107018 2023-07-09T01:06:50Z The Sahara Desert, one of today’s most inhospitable environments, has known periods of enhanced precipitation that supported pre-historic humans. However, the Green Sahara timing and moisture sources are not well known due to limited paleoclimate information. Here, we present a multi-proxy (δ(18)O, δ(13)C, Δ(17)O, and trace elements) speleothem-based climate record from Northwest (NW) Africa. Our data document two Green Sahara periods during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a and the Early to Mid-Holocene. Consistency with paleoclimate records across North Africa highlights the east-west geographical extent of the Green Sahara, whereas millennial-scale North Atlantic cooling (Heinrich) events consistently resulted in drier conditions. We demonstrate that an increase in westerly-originating winter precipitation during MIS5a resulted in favorable environmental conditions. The comparison of paleoclimate data with local archaeological sequences highlights the abrupt climate deterioration and the decline in human density in NW Africa during the MIS5-4 transition, which suggests climate-forced dispersals of populations, with possible implications for pathways into Eurasia. Text North Atlantic PubMed Central (PMC) iScience 26 7 107018 |
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Article Ait Brahim, Yassine Sha, Lijuan Wassenburg, Jasper A. Azennoud, Khalil Cheng, Hai Cruz, Francisco W. Bouchaou, Lhoussaine The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period |
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The Sahara Desert, one of today’s most inhospitable environments, has known periods of enhanced precipitation that supported pre-historic humans. However, the Green Sahara timing and moisture sources are not well known due to limited paleoclimate information. Here, we present a multi-proxy (δ(18)O, δ(13)C, Δ(17)O, and trace elements) speleothem-based climate record from Northwest (NW) Africa. Our data document two Green Sahara periods during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a and the Early to Mid-Holocene. Consistency with paleoclimate records across North Africa highlights the east-west geographical extent of the Green Sahara, whereas millennial-scale North Atlantic cooling (Heinrich) events consistently resulted in drier conditions. We demonstrate that an increase in westerly-originating winter precipitation during MIS5a resulted in favorable environmental conditions. The comparison of paleoclimate data with local archaeological sequences highlights the abrupt climate deterioration and the decline in human density in NW Africa during the MIS5-4 transition, which suggests climate-forced dispersals of populations, with possible implications for pathways into Eurasia. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ait Brahim, Yassine Sha, Lijuan Wassenburg, Jasper A. Azennoud, Khalil Cheng, Hai Cruz, Francisco W. Bouchaou, Lhoussaine |
author_facet |
Ait Brahim, Yassine Sha, Lijuan Wassenburg, Jasper A. Azennoud, Khalil Cheng, Hai Cruz, Francisco W. Bouchaou, Lhoussaine |
author_sort |
Ait Brahim, Yassine |
title |
The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period |
title_short |
The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period |
title_full |
The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period |
title_fullStr |
The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period |
title_full_unstemmed |
The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period |
title_sort |
spatiotemporal extent of the green sahara during the last glacial period |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10320408/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107018 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
iScience |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10320408/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107018 |
op_rights |
© 2023 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107018 |
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iScience |
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26 |
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7 |
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107018 |
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