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A Holocene Marine Climate Record in Mollusc Shells from the Southwest African Coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Anne L. Cohen ,
John E. Parkington ,
Geoff B. Brundrit  and
Nikolaas J. van der Merwe
Anne L. Cohen
Affiliation:
Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
John E. Parkington
Affiliation:
Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
Geoff B. Brundrit
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
Nikolaas J. van der Merwe
Affiliation:
Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
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Abstract

Details of short-term climatic variability are often lost from marine sediments through bioturbation in the upper, aerobic sediment layers. Alternatively, a high-resolution and dated record of climatic events may be obtained using material preserved in archaeological deposits. The Holocene history of the southern Benguela upwelling regime has been constructed from the oxygen isotope and mineral analysis of midden shells. Three discrete episodes of significant isotope enrichment corresponded to periods of glacial expansion in the northern hemisphere. Significant changes in shell mineralogy, which is a response to sea-surface temperatures, were also recorded. The timing and duration of these changes approximated those in the isotope record and may provide a link between events affecting the subcontinent and global temperature changes of the late Quaternary.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , November 1992 , pp. 379 - 385
Copyright
University of Washington

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