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Charophyte remains from Wadi Howar as evidence for deep mid-Holocene freshwater lakes in the eastern Sahara of Northwest Sudan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Stefan Kröpelin  and
Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche
Stefan Kröpelin
Affiliation:
Joint Research Project “Arid Areas” (SFB 69), Geomorphologisches Laboratorium, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstr. 19, D-1000 Berlin 33, Federal Republic of Germany
Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Paléobotanique, U.A. 327 du C.N.R.S., Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Place E. Bataillon, F-34060 Montpellier, France
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Abstract

Field research in the eastern Sahara (Northwest Sudan) revealed extensive early- to mid-Holocene lake marl deposits bearing gyrogonites of Charophytes (green algae, stoneworts) along the lower course of the Wadi Howar, an extinct tributary to the Nile. The Charophyte flora of a paleolake southwest of Jebel Rahib (17°31′N/26°52′E) dated prior to 4720 ± 110 yr B.P. is mainly composed of the ecologically sensitive species Nitellopsis obtusa which indicates permanent, relatively deep (4–12 m) and cool oligotrophic freshwater. The study of Nitellopsis sites provides a new and promising approach to the reconstruction of Quaternary paleoenvironments of deserts.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , September 1991 , pp. 210 - 223
Copyright
University of Washington

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