Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:41:22.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abrupt or gradual? Change point analysis of the late Pleistocene–Holocene climate record from Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2018

Martin H. Trauth ,
Verena Foerster ,
Annett Junginger ,
Asfawossen Asrat ,
Henry F. Lamb  and
Frank Schaebitz
Martin H. Trauth*
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Verena Foerster
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstraße 2, 50931 Köln, Germany
Annett Junginger
Affiliation:
Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstrasse 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
Asfawossen Asrat
Affiliation:
Addis Ababa University, School of Earth Sciences, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Henry F. Lamb
Affiliation:
Aberystwyth University, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, United Kingdom
Frank Schaebitz
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstraße 2, 50931 Köln, Germany
*
*Corresponding author at: Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany. E-mail address: [email protected] (M.H. Trauth).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We used a change point analysis on a late Pleistocene–Holocene lake-sediment record from the Chew Bahir basin in the southern Ethiopian Rift to determine the amplitude and duration of past climate transitions. The most dramatic changes occurred over 240 yr (from ~15,700 to 15,460 yr) during the onset of the African Humid Period (AHP), and over 990 yr (from ~4875 to 3885 yr) during its protracted termination. The AHP was interrupted by a distinct dry period coinciding with the high-latitude Younger Dryas stadial, which had an abrupt onset (less than ~100 yr) at ~13,260 yr and lasted until ~11,730 yr. Wet-dry-wet transitions prior to the AHP may reflect the high-latitude Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, as indicated by cross-correlation of the potassium record with the NorthGRIP ice core record between ~45–20 ka. These findings may contribute to the debates regarding the amplitude, and duration and mechanisms of past climate transitions, and their possible influence on the development of early modern human cultures.

Keywords

Late PleistoceneHoloceneChange point analysisPrincipal component analysisPaleoclimatologySouthern Ethiopian RiftAfrican Humid PeriodYounger DryasDansgaard-Oeschger cycles
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , September 2018 , pp. 321 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alley, R., 2000. The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 213–226.Google Scholar
Altabet, M.A., Higginson, M.J., Murray, D.W., 2002. The effect of millennial-scale changes in Arabian Sea denitrification on atmospheric CO2 . Nature 415, 159–162.Google Scholar
Ambrose, S.H., 1998. Late Pleistocene human population bottlenecks, volcanic winter, and the differentiation of modern humans. Journal of Human Evolution 35, 115–118.Google Scholar
Asrat, A., Baker, A., Umer, M., Moss., J., Leng, M., Van Calstren, P., Smith, C., 2007. A high-resolution multi-proxy stalagmite record from Mechara, Southeastern Ethiopia: paleohydrological implications for speleothem paleoclimate reconstruction. Journal of Quaternary Science 22, 53–63.Google Scholar
Baker, A., Asrat, A., Leng, M., Thomas, L., Fairchild, I.J., Widmann, M., Dong, B., Van Calsteren, P., Bryant, C., 2010. Decadal-scale Holocene climate variability recorded in an Ethiopian Stalagmite. The Holocene 20, 827–836.Google Scholar
Berke, M.A., Johnson, T.C., Werne, J.P., Grice, K., Livingstone, D., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2014. The characterization of the Younger Dryas in tropical Africa: Insights from Lake Albert, East Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 409, 1–8.Google Scholar
Brandt, S.A., Fisher, E.C., Hildebrand, E.A., Vogelsang, R., Ambrose, S.H., Lesur, J., Wang, H., 2012. Early MIS 3 occupation of Mochena Borago Rockshelter, southwest Ethiopian Highlands: implications for Late Pleistocene archaeology, paleoenvironments and modern human dispersals. Quaternary International 274, 38–54.Google Scholar
Brandt, S.A., Hildebrand, E.A., 2005. Southwest Ethiopia as an Upper Pleistocene refugium. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Middle Stone Age of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon 36, 425–430.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., 2009a. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51, 337–360.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., 2009b. Dealing with outliers and offsets in radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 51, 1023–1045.Google Scholar
Brovkin, V., Claussen, M., 2008. Comment on: “Climate-driven ecosystem succession in the Sahara: the past 6000 Yr.” Science 322, 1326b–1326c.Google Scholar
Brown, E.T., Johnson, T.C, Scholz, C.A, Cohen, A.S, King, J.W., 2007. Abrupt change in tropical African climate linked to the bipolar seesaw over the past 55,000 yr. Geophysical Research Letters 34, L20702. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL031240.Google Scholar
Brown, E.T., Johnson, T.C, Scholz, C.A, Cohen, A.S, King, J.W., 2008. Reply to comment by Yannick Garcin on “Abrupt change in tropical African climate linked to the bipolar seesaw over the past 55,000 years.” Geophysical Research Letters 35, L04702. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL033004.Google Scholar
Campisano, C., Cohen, A..S., Arrowsmith, J.R., Asrat, A., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Brown, E.T., Deino, A.L., et al., 2017. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: high-resolution paleoclimate records from the East African Rift System and their implications for understanding the environmental context of Hominin evolution. PaleoAnthropology 2017, 1–43.Google Scholar
Carto, S.L., Weaver, A.J., Hetherington, R., Lam, Y., Wiebe, E.C., 2009. Out of Africa and into an ice age: on the role of global climate change in the late Pleistocene expansion of early modern humans out of Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 56, 139–151.Google Scholar
Castañeda, I.S., Mulitza, S., Schefuß, E., Santos, R.A.L., Damste, J.S.S., Schouten, S., 2009. Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human expansion patterns in North Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, 1–5.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Faith, J.T., Mackay, A., Chevalier, M., Carr, A.S., Boom, A., Lim, S., Reimer, P.J., 2018. Climatic controls on Later Stone Age human adaptation in Africa’s southern Cape. Journal of Human Evolution 114, 35–44.Google Scholar
Claussen, M., Kubatzki, C., Brovkin, V., Ganopolski, A., Hoelzmann, P., Pachur, H.J., 1999. Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation in the Mid-Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 26, 2037–2040.Google Scholar
Cohen, A., Campisano, C., Arrowsmith, R., Asrat, A., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Deino, A., Feibel, C., et al., 2016. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: inferring the environmental context of human evolution from Eastern African Rift lake deposits. Scientific Drilling 21, 1–16.Google Scholar
Costa, K., Russell, J., Konecky, B., Lamb, H., 2014. Isotopic reconstruction of the African Humid Period and Congo Air Boundary migration at Lake Tana, Ethiopia. Quaternary Science Reviews 83, 58–67.Google Scholar
Davidson, A., 1983. The Omo River project: reconnaissance geology and geochemistry of parts of Ilubabor, Kefa, Gemu Gofa and Sidamo. Ethiopian Institute of Geological Surveys Bulletin 2, 1–89.Google Scholar
deMenocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T., Adkins, J., Sarnthein, M., Baker, L., Yarusinsky, M., 2000. Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 347–361.Google Scholar
Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Langkamp, O., Gebru, T., Asrat, A., Umer, M., Lamb, H., et al., 2012. Climatic change recorded in the sediments of the Chew Bahir basin, southern Ethiopia, during the last 45,000 yr. Quaternary International 274, 25–37.Google Scholar
Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H., 2015. Environmental change and human occupation of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya during the last 20,000 yr. Quaternary Science Reviews 129, 333–340.Google Scholar
Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H., 2016. Reply to comment on “Environmental Change and Human Occupation of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 129:333–340.” Quaternary Science Reviews 141, 130–133.Google Scholar
Garcin, Y., 2008. Comment on “Abrupt change in tropical African climate linked to the bipolar seesaw over the past 55,000 yr” by Brown, E. T., Johnson, T. C., Scholz, C. A., Cohen, A. S., and King, J. W. (2007). Geophysical Research Letters 35, L04701. doi:10.1029/2007GL032399.Google Scholar
Garcin, Y., Vincens, A., Williamson, D., Buchet, G., Guiot, J. 2007. Abrupt resumption of the African Monsoon at the Younger Dryas-Holocene climatic transition.” Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 690–704.Google Scholar
Gasse, F., 2000. Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 189–211.Google Scholar
Hailemeskel, A., Fekadu, H., 2004. Geological map of Yabello. ISN 0000 0001 0674 8528. Geological Survey of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Hassen, N., Yemane, T., Genzebu, W., 1997. Geology of the Agere Maryam Area. Geological Survey of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, E., Brandt, S., Lesur-Gebremariam, J., 2010. The Holocene archaeology of southwest Ethiopia: new insights from the Kafa archaeological project. African Archaeological Review 27, 255–289.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, E., Grillo, K., 2012. Early herders and monumental sites in eastern Africa: new radiocarbon dates. Antiquity 86, 338–352.Google Scholar
Hotelling, H., 1931. Analysis of a complex of statistical variables with principal components. Journal of Educational Psychology 24, 417–441.Google Scholar
Junginger, A., Trauth, M.H., 2013. Hydrological constraints of paleo-Lake Suguta in the Northern Kenya Rift during the African Humid Period (15–5 ka). Global and Planetary Change 111, 174–188.Google Scholar
Key, R.M., 1987. Geology of the Sabarei area: degree sheets 3 and 4, with coloured 1:250 000 geological map and results of geochemical exploration (Report). Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Mines and Geology Department, Nairobi, Kenya.Google Scholar
Killick, R., Fearnhead, P., Eckley, I.A., 2012. Optimal detection of change points with a linear computational cost. Journal of the American Statistical Association 107, 1590–1598.Google Scholar
Kröpelin, S., Verschuren, D., Lézine, A.-M., 2008a. Response to comment by Brovkin and Claussen on “Climate-driven ecosystem succession in the Sahara: the past 6000 Yr.” Science 322, 1326.Google Scholar
Kröpelin, S., Verschuren, D., Lézine, A.-M., Eggermont, H., Cocquyt, C., Francus, P., Cazet, J.-P., et al., 2008b. Climate-driven ecosystem succession in the Sahara: the past 6000 Yr. Science 320, 765–768.Google Scholar
Kuper, R., Kröpelin, S., 2006. Climate-controlled Holocene occupation in the Sahara: motor of Africa’s Evolution. Science 313, 803–307.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E., Street-Perrott, F.A., 1985. Milankovitch forcing of fluctuations in the level of tropical lakes from 18 to 0 ka. Nature 317, 130–134.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.F., Bates, C.R., Bryant, C.L., Davies, S.J., Huws, D.G., Marshall, M.H., Roberts, H.M., 2018. 150,000-year palaeoclimate record from northern Ethiopia supports early, multiple dispersals of modern humans from Africa. Scientific Reports 8, 1077.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.F., Bates, C.R., Coombes, P.V., Marshall, M.H., Umer, M., Davies, S.J., Dejen, E., 2007. Late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 287–299.Google Scholar
MathWorks. 2017a. MATLAB Signal Processing Toolbox: User’s Guide. The MathWorks, Natick, MA.Google Scholar
MathWorks. 2017b. MATLAB Statistics Toolbox: User’s Guide. The MathWorks, Natick, MA.Google Scholar
Moore, J.M., Davidson, A., 1978. Rift structure in southern Ethiopia. Tectonophysics 46, 159–173.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E., 2017. Climate and climatic variability of rainfall over eastern Africa. Reviews of Geophysics 55, 590–635.Google Scholar
North Greenland Ice Core Project members. 2004. High-resolution record of northern hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period. Nature 431, 147–151.Google Scholar
Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Russell, J.M., Clark, P.U., Liu, Z., Overpeck, J.T., Konecky, B., deMenocal, P., Nicholson, S.E., He, F., Lu, Z., 2014. Coherent changes of southeastern equatorial and northern African rainfall during the last deglaciation. Science 346, 1223–1227.Google Scholar
Paliwal, K.K., Agarwal, A., Sinha, S.S., 1982. A modification over Sakoe and Chiba’s dynamic time warping algorithm for isolated word recognition. Signal Processing 4, 329–333.Google Scholar
Pearson, K., 1901. On lines and planes of closest fit to a system of points in space. Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science 6, 559–572.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., et al., 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Yr cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1869–1887.Google Scholar
Roberts, N., Taieb, M., Barker, P., Damnati, B., Icole, M., Williamson, D., 1993. Timing of the Younger Dryas event in east Africa from lake-level changes. Nature 366, 146–148.Google Scholar
Sakoe, H., Chiba, S., 1978. Dynamic Programming Algorithm Optimization for Spoken Word Recognition. IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing ASSP-26, 43–49.Google Scholar
Shanahan, T.M., McKay, N.P., Hughen, K.A., Overpeck, J.T., Otto-Bliesner, B., Heil, C.W., King, J., Scholz, C.A., Peck, J., 2015. The time-transgressive termination of the African Humid Period. Nature Geoscience 8, 140–144.Google Scholar
Tierney, J.E., deMenocal, P.B., 2013. Abrupt shifts in Horn of Africa. hydroclimate since the Last Glacial Maximum. Science 342, 843–846.Google Scholar
Tierney, J.E., deMenocal, P.B., Zander, P.D., 2017. A climatic context for the out-of-Africa migration. Geology 45, 1023–1026.Google Scholar
Tierney, J.E., Russell, J.M., Huang, Y., Sinninghe Damste, J.S., Hopmans, E.C., Cohen, A.S., 2008. Northern Hemisphere controls on tropical southeast African climate during the past 60,000 years. Science 322, 252–255.Google Scholar
Trauth, M.H., Bergner, A.G.N., Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Maslin, M.A., Schaebitz, F., 2015. Episodes of environmental stability and instability in Late Cenozoic lake records of eastern Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 87, 21–31.Google Scholar
Vogelsang, R., Keding, B., 2013. Climate, culture, and change: From hunters to herders in northeastern and southwestern Africa. In: Baldia, M.O., Perttula, T.K., Frink, D.S. (Eds.), Comparative Archaeology and Paleoclimatology: Socio-cultural Responses to a Changing World. BAR International Series, 2456. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 43–62.Google Scholar