Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia)
Abstract Low-altitude lakes in eastern Africa have long been investigated and have provided valuable information about the Late Quaternary paleohydrological evolution, such as the African Humid Period. However, records often suffer from poor age control, resolution, and/or ambiguous proxy interpreta...
Published in: | Progress in Earth and Planetary Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/105864 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/112995 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 |
id |
ftsubgoettingen:oai:publications.goettingen-research-online.de:2/112995 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftsubgoettingen:oai:publications.goettingen-research-online.de:2/112995 2023-07-30T04:05:40+02:00 Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) Mekonnen, Betelhem Glaser, Bruno Zech, Roland Zech, Michael Schlütz, Frank Bussert, Robert Addis, Agerie Gil-Romera, Graciela Nemomissa, Sileshi Bekele, Tamrat Bittner, Lucas Solomon, Dawit Manhart, Andreas Zech, Wolfgang 2022-04-01T10:02:15Z https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/105864 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/112995 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 en eng 2197-4284 Albrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften Abteilung Palynologie und Klimadynamik Progress in Earth and Planetary Science. 2022 Feb 25;9(1):14 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/105864 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/112995 doi:10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 472 CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 The Author(s) Bale Mountains High-altitude lacustrine sediments Heinrich event 1 African humid period Fire Erica journal_article original_ja yes published_version 2022 ftsubgoettingen https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 2023-07-16T22:14:45Z Abstract Low-altitude lakes in eastern Africa have long been investigated and have provided valuable information about the Late Quaternary paleohydrological evolution, such as the African Humid Period. However, records often suffer from poor age control, resolution, and/or ambiguous proxy interpretation, and only little focus has been put on high-altitude regions despite their sensitivity to global, regional, and local climate change phenomena. Here we report on Last Glacial environmental fluctuations at about 4000 m asl on the Sanetti Plateau in the Bale Mountains (SE Ethiopia), based on biogeochemical and palynological analyses of laminated lacustrine sediments. After deglaciation at about 18 cal kyr BP, a steppe-like herb-rich grassland with maximum Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae and Plantago existed. Between 16.6 and 15.7 cal kyr BP, conditions were dry with a desiccation layer at ~ 16.3 cal kyr BP, documenting a temporary phase of maximum aridity on the plateau. While that local event lasted for only a few decades, concentrations of various elements (e.g. Zr, HF, Nb, Nd, and Na) started to increase and reached a maximum at ~ 15.8–15.7 cal kyr BP. We interpret those elements to reflect allochthonous, aeolian dust input via dry northerly winds and increasingly arid conditions in the lowlands. We suggest an abrupt versus delayed response at high and low altitudes, respectively, in response to Northern Hemispheric cooling events (the Heinrich Event 1). The delayed response at low altitudes might be caused by slow negative vegetation and monsoon feedbacks that make the ecosystem somewhat resilient. At ~ 15.7 cal kyr BP, our record shows an abrupt onset of the African Humid Period, almost 1000 years before the onset of the Bølling–Allerød warming in the North-Atlantic region, and about 300 years earlier than in the Lake Tana region. Erica pollen increased significantly between 14.4 and 13.6 cal kyr BP in agreement with periodically wet and regionally warm conditions. Similarly, intense fire events, documented by ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Georg-August-Universität Göttingen: GoeScholar Progress in Earth and Planetary Science 9 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen: GoeScholar |
op_collection_id |
ftsubgoettingen |
language |
English |
topic |
Bale Mountains High-altitude lacustrine sediments Heinrich event 1 African humid period Fire Erica |
spellingShingle |
Bale Mountains High-altitude lacustrine sediments Heinrich event 1 African humid period Fire Erica Mekonnen, Betelhem Glaser, Bruno Zech, Roland Zech, Michael Schlütz, Frank Bussert, Robert Addis, Agerie Gil-Romera, Graciela Nemomissa, Sileshi Bekele, Tamrat Bittner, Lucas Solomon, Dawit Manhart, Andreas Zech, Wolfgang Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) |
topic_facet |
Bale Mountains High-altitude lacustrine sediments Heinrich event 1 African humid period Fire Erica |
description |
Abstract Low-altitude lakes in eastern Africa have long been investigated and have provided valuable information about the Late Quaternary paleohydrological evolution, such as the African Humid Period. However, records often suffer from poor age control, resolution, and/or ambiguous proxy interpretation, and only little focus has been put on high-altitude regions despite their sensitivity to global, regional, and local climate change phenomena. Here we report on Last Glacial environmental fluctuations at about 4000 m asl on the Sanetti Plateau in the Bale Mountains (SE Ethiopia), based on biogeochemical and palynological analyses of laminated lacustrine sediments. After deglaciation at about 18 cal kyr BP, a steppe-like herb-rich grassland with maximum Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae and Plantago existed. Between 16.6 and 15.7 cal kyr BP, conditions were dry with a desiccation layer at ~ 16.3 cal kyr BP, documenting a temporary phase of maximum aridity on the plateau. While that local event lasted for only a few decades, concentrations of various elements (e.g. Zr, HF, Nb, Nd, and Na) started to increase and reached a maximum at ~ 15.8–15.7 cal kyr BP. We interpret those elements to reflect allochthonous, aeolian dust input via dry northerly winds and increasingly arid conditions in the lowlands. We suggest an abrupt versus delayed response at high and low altitudes, respectively, in response to Northern Hemispheric cooling events (the Heinrich Event 1). The delayed response at low altitudes might be caused by slow negative vegetation and monsoon feedbacks that make the ecosystem somewhat resilient. At ~ 15.7 cal kyr BP, our record shows an abrupt onset of the African Humid Period, almost 1000 years before the onset of the Bølling–Allerød warming in the North-Atlantic region, and about 300 years earlier than in the Lake Tana region. Erica pollen increased significantly between 14.4 and 13.6 cal kyr BP in agreement with periodically wet and regionally warm conditions. Similarly, intense fire events, documented by ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mekonnen, Betelhem Glaser, Bruno Zech, Roland Zech, Michael Schlütz, Frank Bussert, Robert Addis, Agerie Gil-Romera, Graciela Nemomissa, Sileshi Bekele, Tamrat Bittner, Lucas Solomon, Dawit Manhart, Andreas Zech, Wolfgang |
author_facet |
Mekonnen, Betelhem Glaser, Bruno Zech, Roland Zech, Michael Schlütz, Frank Bussert, Robert Addis, Agerie Gil-Romera, Graciela Nemomissa, Sileshi Bekele, Tamrat Bittner, Lucas Solomon, Dawit Manhart, Andreas Zech, Wolfgang |
author_sort |
Mekonnen, Betelhem |
title |
Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) |
title_short |
Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) |
title_full |
Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) |
title_fullStr |
Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the Sanetti Plateau, Bale Mountains (Ethiopia) |
title_sort |
climate, vegetation and fire history during the past 18,000 years, recorded in high altitude lacustrine sediments on the sanetti plateau, bale mountains (ethiopia) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/105864 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/112995 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
2197-4284 Albrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften Abteilung Palynologie und Klimadynamik Progress in Earth and Planetary Science. 2022 Feb 25;9(1):14 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/105864 https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/112995 doi:10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 472 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-022-00472-9 |
container_title |
Progress in Earth and Planetary Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1772817749732491264 |