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Ancient charcoal as a natural archive for paleofire regime and vegetation change in the Mayumbe, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Wannes Hubau ,
Jan Van den Bulcke ,
Peter Kitin ,
Florias Mees ,
Geert Baert ,
Dirk Verschuren ,
Laurent Nsenga ,
Joris Van Acker  and
Hans Beeckman
Wannes Hubau*
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Department of Forest and Water Management, Laboratory for Wood Technology, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium Royal Museum for Central Africa, Laboratory for Wood Biology, Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Jan Van den Bulcke
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Department of Forest and Water Management, Laboratory for Wood Technology, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Peter Kitin
Affiliation:
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Laboratory for Wood Biology, Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Florias Mees
Affiliation:
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Geert Baert
Affiliation:
University College Ghent, Department of Plant Production, Schoonmeersstraat 52, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Dirk Verschuren
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Department of Biology, Limnology Unit, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Laurent Nsenga
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Department of Forest and Water Management, Laboratory for Wood Technology, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium Royal Museum for Central Africa, Laboratory for Wood Biology, Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Joris Van Acker
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Department of Forest and Water Management, Laboratory for Wood Technology, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Hans Beeckman
Affiliation:
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Laboratory for Wood Biology, Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium
*
*Corresponding author at: Ghent University, Department of Forest and Water Management, Laboratory for Wood Technology, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. Tel.: + 32 9 264 61 23; fax: + 32 9 264 90 92. E-mail addresses:[email protected], [email protected] (W. Hubau), [email protected] (J. Van den Bulcke), [email protected] (P. Kitin), [email protected] (F. Mees), [email protected] (G. Baert), [email protected] (D. Verschuren), [email protected] (L. Nsenga), [email protected] (J. Van Acker), [email protected] (H. Beeckman).
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Abstract

Charcoal was sampled in four soil profiles at the Mayumbe forest boundary (DRC). Five fire events were recorded and 44 charcoal types were identified. One stratified profile yielded charcoal assemblages around 530 cal yr BP and > 43.5 cal ka BP in age. The oldest assemblage precedes the period of recorded anthropogenic burning, illustrating occasional long-term absence of fire but also natural wildfire occurrences within tropical rainforest. No other charcoal assemblages older than 2500 cal yr BP were recorded, perhaps due to bioturbation and colluvial reworking. The recorded paleofires were possibly associated with short-lived climate anomalies. Progressively dry climatic conditions since ca. 4000 cal yr BP onward did not promote paleofire occurrence until increasing seasonality affected vegetation at the end of the third millennium BP, as illustrated by a fire occurring in mature rainforest that persisted until around 2050 cal yr BP. During a drought episode coinciding with the "Medieval Climate Anomaly", mature rainforest was locally replaced by woodland savanna. Charcoal remains from pioneer forest indicate that fire hampered forest regeneration after climatic drought episodes. The presence of pottery shards and oil-palm endocarps associated with two relatively recent paleofires suggests that the effects of climate variability were amplified by human activities.

Keywords

PedoanthracologyWood anatomyCharcoal analysisCentral AfricaMayumbeVegetation historyPaleoenvironment
Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 80 , Issue 2 , September 2013 , pp. 326 - 340
Copyright
University of Washington

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