Description: To better understand Holocene vegetation and hydrological changes in South Africa, we analyzed pollen and microcharcoal records of two marine sites GeoB8331 and GeoB8323 from the Namaqualand mudbelt offshore the west coast of South Africa covering the last 9900 and 2200 years, respectively. Our data corroborate findings from literature that climate developments apparently contrast between the summer rainfall zone (SRZ) and winter rainfall zone (WRZ) over the last 9900 years, especially during the early and middle Holocene. During the early Holocene (9900-7800 cal.yr BP), a minimum of grass pollen suggests low summer rainfall in the SRZ, and the initial presence of Renosterveld vegetation indicates relatively wet conditions in the WRZ. Towards the middle Holocene (7800-2400 cal. yr BP), a rather moist savanna/grassland rich in grasses suggests higher summer rainfall in the SRZ resulting from increased austral summer insolation and a decline of fynbos vegetation accompanied by an increasing Succulent Karoo vegetation in the WRZ possibly suggests a southward shift of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies. During the last 2200 years, a trend towards higher aridity was observed for the SRZ, while the climate in the WRZ remained relatively stable. The Little Ice Age (ca. 700-200 cal. yr BP) was rather cool in both rainfall zones and drier in the SRZ while wetter in the WRZ.

Description: It has long been known that extreme changes in North African hydroclimate occurred during the late Pleistocene yet many discrepancies exist between sites regarding the timing, duration and abruptness of events such as Heinrich Stadial (HS) 1 and the African Humid Period (AHP). The hydroclimate history of the Nile River is of particular interest due to its lengthy human occupation history yet there are presently few continuous archives from the Nile River corridor, and pre-Holocene studies are rare. Here we present new organic and inorganic geochemical records of Nile Basin hydroclimate from an eastern Mediterranean (EM) Sea sediment core spanning the past 28 ka BP. Our multi-proxy records reflect the fluctuating inputs of Blue Nile versus White Nile material to the EM Sea in response to gradual changes in local insolation and also capture abrupt hydroclimate events driven by remote climate forcings, such as HS1. We find strong evidence for extreme aridity within the Nile Basin evolving in two distinct phases during HS1, from 17.5 to 16 ka BP and from 16 to 14.5 ka BP, whereas peak wet conditions during the AHP are observed from 9 to 7 ka BP. We find that zonal movements of the Congo Air Boundary (CAB), and associated shifts in the dominant moisture source (Atlantic versus Indian Ocean moisture) to the Nile Basin, likely contributed to abrupt hydroclimate variability in northern East Africa during HS1 and the AHP as well as to non-linear behavior of hydroclimate proxies. We note that different proxies show variable gradual and abrupt responses to individual hydroclimate events, and thus might have different inherent sensitivities, which may be a factor contributing to the controversy surrounding the abruptness of past events such as the AHP. During the Late Pleistocene the Nile Basin experienced extreme hydroclimate fluctuations, which presumably impacted Paleolithic cultures residing along the Nile corridor.

Description: A transect of marine surface sediment samples from 1° N to 28° S off southwest Africa was analysed to verify the application of hydrogen isotope compositions of terrestrial plant-wax n-alkanes preserved in ocean sediments as a proxy for continental hydrological conditions. Conditions on the adjacent continent range from humid evergreen forests to deciduous forests, wood- and shrub land and further to arid grasslands and deserts. The hydrogen isotope values for the dominant n-alkane homologues (C29, C31 and C33) vary from -123 per mil to -141 per mil VSMOW and correlate with the modelled hydrogen isotope composition of mean annual and growing season precipitation of postulated continental source areas (r up to 0.8, p 〈 0.01). The apparent hydrogen isotope fractionation between alkanes and mean annual precipitation is remarkably uniform (-109 per mil on average, Sigma 〈= 5 per mil, n = 27). Potentially, effects of aridity on the apparent hydrogen isotope fractionation are concealed by the contribution of different plants (C3 dicotyledons vs C4 grasses). Thus, isotope ratios of leaf wax n-alkanes preserved in ocean margin sediments in these and similar tropical regions may be directly converted to dD ratios of ancient precipitation by employing a constant hydrogen isotope fractionation.

Description: Various studies have demonstrated that the stable hydrogen isotopic composition (dD) of terrestrial leaf waxes tracks that of precipitation (dDprecip) both spatially across climate gradients and over a range of different timescales. Yet, reconstructed estimates of dDprecip and corresponding rainfall typically remain largely qualitative, due mainly to uncertainties in plant ecosystem net fractionation, relative humidity, and the stability of the amount effect through time. Here we present dD values of the C31n-alkane (dDwax) from a marine sediment core offshore the Northwest (NW) African Sahel covering the past 100 years and overlapping with the instrumental record of rainfall. We use this record to investigate whether accurate, quantitative estimates of past rainfall can be derived from our dDwax time series. We infer the composition of vegetation (C3/C4) within the continental catchment area by analysis of the stable carbon isotopic composition of the same compounds (d13Cwax), calculated a net ecosystem fractionation factor, and corrected the dDwax time series accordingly to derive dDprecip. Using the present-day relationship between dDprecip and the amount of precipitation in the tropics, we derive quantitative estimates of past precipitation amounts. Our data show that (a) vegetation composition can be inferred from d13Cwax, (b) the calculated net ecosystem fractionation represents a reasonable estimate, and (c) estimated total amounts of rainfall based on dDwax correspond to instrumental records of rainfall. Our study has important implications for future studies aiming to reconstruct rainfall based on dDwax; the combined data presented here demonstrate that it is feasible to infer absolute rainfall amounts from sedimentary dDwax in tandem with d13Cwax in specific depositional settings.

Description: The climate changes associated with the Holocene wet phase in the Sahara, the African Humid Period (AHP), are subject to ongoing debate discussing interactions between climate and vegetation and possible feedbacks between vegetation, albedo, desertification, and dust. However, very little attention has been given to the role of fire in shaping the land cover, although in is known that fires are important in the formation and consolidation of the African savanna. To fill this gap, we investigated the interaction between precipitation changes, vegetation shifts, and fire occurrence in West Africa by combining stable isotope measurements on plant waxes with pollen and micro-charcoal counts of marine sediments retrieved offshore of Cape Blanc. Our study focusses on the roles of fire at the dry limit of savanna during the Holocene evolution of precipitation changes indicating that the impact of fire during a relative wet climate differs from that during aridification. During the humid early Holocene, increased savanna extension and diversification ran parallel to increased fire occurrence. In contrast, after aridification of northern Africa started at the end of the AHP, a maximum in fire occurrence correlated with a deterioration of the vegetation promoting desertification.

Description: The temporal succession of changes in Amazonian hydroclimate during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) (ca. 18-14.7 cal ka BP) is currently poorly resolved. Here we present HS1 records based on isotope, inorganic and organic geochemistry from a marine sediment core influenced by the Amazon River discharge. Our records offer a detailed reconstruction of the changes in Amazonian hydroclimate during HS1, integrated over the basin. We reconstructed surface water hydrography using stable oxygen isotopes (d18O) and Mg/Ca-derived paleotemperatures from the planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber, as well as salinity changes based on stable hydrogen isotope (dD) of palmitic acid. We also analyzed branched and isoprenoid tetraether concentrations, and compared them to existing bulk sediment ln(Fe/Ca) data and vegetation reconstruction based on stable carbon isotopes from n-alkanes, in order to understand the relationship between continental precipitation, vegetation and sediment production. Our results indicate a two-phased HS1 (HS1a and HS1b). During HS1a (18-16.9 cal ka BP), a first sudden increase of sea surface temperatures (SST) in the western equatorial Atlantic correlated with the slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the associated southern hemisphere warming phase of the bipolar seesaw. This phase was also characterized by an increased delivery of terrestrial material. During HS1b (16.9-14.8 cal ka BP), a decrease in terrestrial input was, however, associated with a marked decline of seawater d18O and palmitic acid dD. Both isotopic proxies independently indicate a drop in sea surface salinity (SSS). A number of records under the influence of the North Brazil Current, in contrast, indicate increases in SST and SSS resulting from a weakened AMOC during HS1. Our records thus suggest that the expected increase in SSS due to the AMOC slowdown was overridden by a two-phased positive precipitation anomaly in Amazonian hydroclimate.

Description: The western tropical Atlantic plays an important role in the interhemispheric redistribution of heat during millennial-scale changes in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The proper evaluation of this role depends on a clear understanding of sea surface temperature (SST) variations during AMOC slowdown periods like Heinrich Stadials (HS) in the western tropical Atlantic. However, published SST records from the western tropical Atlantic between ca. 4°S and 7°N show inconsistencies that are apparently related to the employed temperature proxy (i.e., Mg/Ca versus alkenone unsaturation index U37k′). In general, while Mg/Ca values indicate warming during Heinrich Stadials, U37k′ values show cooling. To assess this issue, we sampled core GeoB16224-1 retrieved off French Guiana (i.e., 6°39.38′N) and reconstructed water temperatures at high resolution using Mg/Ca on the foraminifera species Globigerinoides ruber, U37k′, TEX86 and modern analogue technique (MAT) transfer functions using planktonic foraminifera assemblages calibrated for 50 m water depth. Our results show that Mg/Ca and TEX86 values recorded an increase in SST related to AMOC slowdown. Conversely, U37k′ and MAT values registered a decrease in temperatures during HS3 and HS1. Our U37k′ and Mg/Ca results thus confirm the previously reported inconsistency for the period between 48-13 cal ka BP. We suggest that several non-thermal physiological effects probably imparted a negative temperature bias on the U37k′ temperatures during Heinrich Stadials. However, MAT-based temperatures show similar variability with U37k′-based temperatures. Hence, we also suggest that during severe slowdown periods of the AMOC, a steeper meridional temperature gradient together with a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergent Zone produced not only an increase in SST but also a stronger upper water column stratification and a shoaling of the thermocline, decreasing subsurface temperatures. Our new high resolution temperature records allow a better characterization of the thermal response of the upper water column in the tropical western Atlantic to slowdown events of the AMOC, reconciling previously discrepant records.

Description: The Maritime Continent, home to widespread tropical rainforest and millions of people, is the primary region of deep atmospheric convection on the Earth. However, debate exists whether the isotopologues of water reflect rainfall amount during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), resulting in different interpretations of the LGM climate of the Maritime Continent. Here we present paired leaf wax δ13C and δD records together with pollen data from a sediment core retrieved off East Java dating back to 22,000 years before present. We use three n-alkane homologues (n-C29, n-C31 and n-C33) in order to reconstruct past changes in vegetation types and seasonal rainfall. Our results suggest that in East Java, evergreen rainforest remained the dominant vegetation type in montane regions since the seasonality there remained relatively unaltered over the entire period. In contrast, the East Javanese lowlands were characterised by C4 grass expansion and an extended dry season but a wetter rainy season, thus stronger seasonality, during the LGM.