Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T08:11:24.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influence of Agulhas forcing of Holocene climate change in South Africa’s southern Cape

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2018

Brian M. Chase  and
Lynne J. Quick
Brian M. Chase*
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution-Montpellier, Université Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France
Lynne J. Quick
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, South Lane, Upper Campus, 7701 Rondebosch, South Africa Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape 6031, South Africa
*
*Corresponding author at: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5554, Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution-Montpellier, Université Montpellier, Bat.22, CC061, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France. E-mail address: [email protected] (B.M. Chase).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper analyses a series of high-quality continuous records from southeastern Africa to study the spatiotemporal patterning of Holocene hydroclimatic anomalies in the region. Results indicate dominant frequencies of variability at millennial time scales, and a series of anomalies broadly common to all records. Of particular interest, data from the southern Cape coast exhibit periods of wetter/drier conditions that are out of phase with the sites less than 150 km away in the adjacent interior, but in phase with sites in tropical regions over 1000 km to the northeast. To explain such spatial patterns and gradients, we propose that the Agulhas Current may be a critical vector by which tropical climatic signals are propagated along the littoral zone, exerting a dominant, highly localized influence on near-coastal environmental conditions. Limitations in the data available do not allow for a detailed examination of the climatic dynamics related to these phenomena, but this paper highlights a series of avenues for future research to clarify the spatial extent and stability of the patterns observed.

Keywords

Southern AfricaPalaeoclimateHoloceneAgulhas Current
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , September 2018 , pp. 303 - 309
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

Baker, A., Routh, J., Blaauw, M., Roychoudhury, A.N., 2014. Geochemical records of palaeoenvironmental controls on peat forming processes in the Mfabeni peatland, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa since the late Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 395, 95–106.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Rickaby, R.E.M., 2009. Migration of the subtropical front as a modulator of glacial climate. Nature 460, 380–383.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Rostek, F., Sonzogni, C., 1997. Interhemispheric synchrony of the last deglaciation inferred from alkenone palaeothermometry. Nature 385, 707–710.Google Scholar
Blaauw, M., Christen, J.A., 2011. Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis 6, 457–474.Google Scholar
Caley, T., Kim, J.H., Malaizé, B., Giraudeau, J., Laepple, T., Caillon, N., Charlier, K., et al., 2011. High-latitude obliquity as a dominant forcing in the Agulhas current system. Climates of the Past 7, 1285–1296.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., Carré, M., Chevalier, M., Meadows, M.E., Pedro, J.B., Stager, J.C., Reimer, P.J., 2015a. Evolving southwest African response to abrupt deglacial North Atlantic climate change events. Quaternary Science Reviews 121, 132–136.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., Meadows, M.E., Reimer, P.J., 2013. Holocene climate change in southernmost South Africa: rock hyrax middens record shifts in the southern westerlies. Quaternary Science Reviews 82, 199–205.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Chevalier, M., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., 2017. The dynamic relationship between temperate and tropical circulation systems across South Africa since the last glacial maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 174, 54–62.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Lim, S., Chevalier, M., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., Meadows, M.E., Reimer, P.J., 2015b. Influence of tropical easterlies in southern Africa’s winter rainfall zone during the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 107, 138–148.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., Meadows, M.E., 2007. Late Quaternary dynamics of southern Africa’s winter rainfall zone. Earth-Science Reviews 84, 103–138.Google Scholar
Chevalier, M., Chase, B.M., 2015. Southeast African records reveal a coherent shift from high- to low-latitude forcing mechanisms along the east African margin across last glacial–interglacial transition. Quaternary Science Reviews 125, 117–130.Google Scholar
Chevalier, M., Cheddadi, R., Chase, B.M., 2014. CREST (Climate REconstruction SofTware): a probability density function (pdf)-based quantitative climate reconstruction method. Climates of the Past 10, 2081–2098.Google Scholar
Cockcroft, M.J., Wilkinson, M.J., Tyson, P.D., 1987. The application of a present-day climatic model to the late Quaternary in southern Africa. Climatic Change 10, 161–181.Google Scholar
Cohen, A.L., Tyson, P.D., 1995. Sea surface temperature fluctuations during the Holocene off the south coast of Africa: implications for terrestrial climate and rainfall. Holocene 5, 304–312.Google Scholar
Deacon, J., Lancaster, N., 1988. Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments of southern Africa. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Finch, J.M., Hill, T.R., 2008. A late Quaternary pollen sequence from Mfabeni Peatland, South Africa: reconstructing forest history in Maputaland. Quaternary Research 70, 442–450.Google Scholar
Henshilwood, C.S., d’Errico, F., Yates, R., Jacobs, Z., Tribolo, C., Duller, G.A.T., Mercier, N., et al., 2002. Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa. Science 295, 1278–1280.Google Scholar
Hogg, A.G., Hua, Q., Blackwell, P.G., Niu, M., Buck, C.E., Guilderson, T.P., Heaton, T.J., et al., 2013. SHCal13 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–50,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1889–1903.Google Scholar
Jury, M., Rouault, M., Weeks, S., Schormann, M., 1997. Atmospheric boundary layer fluxes and structure across a land-sea transition zone in southeastern Africa. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 83, 311–330.Google Scholar
Jury, M.R., Valentine, H.R., Lutjeharms, J.R.E., 1993. Influence of the Agulhas Current on summer rainfall along the southeast coast of South Africa. Journal of Applied Meteorology 32, 1282–1287.Google Scholar
Klein, R.G., 1975. Middle Stone Age man–animal relationships in southern Africa: evidence from Die Kelders and Klasies River mouth. Science 190, 265–267.Google Scholar
Lutjeharms, J.R.E., Van Ballegooyen, R.C., 1988. The retroflection oft the Agulhas Current. Journal of Physical Oceanography 18, 1570–1583.Google Scholar
Marean, C.W., 2010. Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (Western Cape Province, South Africa) in context: the Cape Floral kingdom, shellfish, and modern human origins. Journal of Human Evolution 59, 425–443.Google Scholar
Martin, A.R.H., 1968. Pollen analysis of Groenvlei Lake sediments, Knysna (South Africa). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 7, 107–144.Google Scholar
Metwally, A.A., Scott, L., Neumann, F.H., Bamford, M.K., Oberhänsli, H., 2014. Holocene palynology and palaeoenvironments in the Savanna Biome at Tswaing Crater, central South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 402, 125–135.Google Scholar
Neumann, F.H., Scott, L., Bousman, C.B., van As, L., 2010. A Holocene sequence of vegetation change at Lake Eteza, coastal KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 162, 39–53.Google Scholar
Norström, E., Scott, L., Partridge, T.C., Risberg, J., Holmgren, K., 2009. Reconstruction of environmental and climate changes at Braamhoek wetland, eastern escarpment South Africa, during the last 16,000 years with emphasis on the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 271, 240–258.Google Scholar
Peeters, F.J.C., Acheson, R., Brummer, G.-J.A., de Ruijter, W.P.M., Schneider, R.R., Ganssen, G.M., Ufkes, E., Kroon, D., 2004. Vigorous exchange between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans at the end of the past five glacial periods. Nature 430, 661–665.Google Scholar
Quick, L.J., Carr, A.S., Meadows, M.E., Boom, A., Bateman, M.D., Roberts, D.L., Reimer, P.J., Chase, B.M., 2015. A late Pleistocene–Holocene multi-proxy record of palaeoenvironmental change from Still Bay, southern Cape Coast, South Africa. Journal of Quaternary Science 30, 870–885.Google Scholar
Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Wündsch, M., Kirsten, K.L., Chevalier, M., Mäusbacher, R., Meadows, M.E., Haberzettl, T., 2018. A high‐resolution record of Holocene climate and vegetation dynamics from the southern Cape coast of South Africa: pollen and microcharcoal evidence from Eilandvlei. Journal of Quaternary Science (in press). https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3028.Google Scholar
Rau, A.J., Rogers, J., Lutjeharms, J.R.E., Giraudeau, J., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Chen, M.-T., Waelbroeck, C., 2002. A 450-kyr record of hydrological conditions on the western Agulhas Bank Slope, south of Africa. Marine Geology 180, 183–201.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Grootes, P.M., et al., 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1869–1887.Google Scholar
Schefuß, E., Kuhlmann, H., Mollenhauer, G., Prange, M., Patzold, J., 2011. Forcing of wet phases in southeast Africa over the past 17,000 years. Nature 480, 509–512.Google Scholar
Scott, L., 1982. A late Quaternary pollen record from the Transvaal bushveld, South Africa. Quaternary Research 17, 339–370.Google Scholar
Scott, L., 1987a. Late Quaternary forest history in Venda, Southern Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 53, 1–10.Google Scholar
Scott, L., 1987b. Pollen analysis of hyena coprolites and sediments from Equus Cave, Taung, southern Kalahari (South Africa). Quaternary Research 28, 144–156.Google Scholar
Scott, L., 1999. Vegetation history and climate in the Savanna biome South Africa since 190,000 ka: a comparison of pollen data from the Tswaing Crater (the Pretoria Saltpan) and Wonderkrater. Quaternary International 57–58, 215–223.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Bousman, C.B., Nyakale, M., 2005. Holocene pollen from swamp, cave and hyrax dung deposits at Blydefontein (Kikvorsberge), Karoo, South Africa. Quaternary International 129, 49–59.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Neumann, F.H., Brook, G.A., Bousman, C.B., Norström, E., Metwally, A.A., 2012. Terrestrial fossil-pollen evidence of climate change during the last 26 thousand years in southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 32, 100–118.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Nyakale, M., 2002. Pollen indications of Holocene palaeoenvironments at Florisbad spring in the central Free State, South Africa. Holocene 12, 497–503.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Vogel, J.C., 1983. Late Quaternary pollen profile from the Transvaal Highveld, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 79, 266–272.Google Scholar
Sonzogni, C., Bard, E., Rostek, F., 1998. Tropical sea-surface temperatures during the last glacial period: a view based on alkenones in Indian Ocean sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 17, 1185–1201.Google Scholar
Torrence, C., Compo, G.P., 1998. A practical guide to wavelet analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 79, 61–78.Google Scholar
Tyson, P.D., Preston-Whyte, R.A., 2000. The weather and climate of southern Africa. Oxford University Press, Cape Town.Google Scholar
van Zinderen Bakker, E.M., 1976. The evolution of late Quaternary paleoclimates of Southern Africa. Palaeoecology of Africa 9, 160–202.Google Scholar