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Late Pleistocene records of speleothem stable isotopic compositions from Pinnacle Point on the South African south coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2018

Kerstin Braun ,
Miryam Bar-Matthews ,
Alan Matthews ,
Avner Ayalon ,
Richard M. Cowling ,
Panagiotis Karkanas ,
Erich C. Fisher ,
Kelsey Dyez ,
Tami Zilberman  and
Curtis W. Marean
Kerstin Braun*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
Miryam Bar-Matthews
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Alan Matthews
Affiliation:
Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel
Avner Ayalon
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Richard M. Cowling
Affiliation:
African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Panagiotis Karkanas
Affiliation:
The Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece
Erich C. Fisher
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
Kelsey Dyez
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Tami Zilberman
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
Curtis W. Marean
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
*
*Corresponding author at: Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874101, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (K. Braun).
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Abstract

Highly resolved, well-dated paleoclimate records from the southern South African coast are needed to contextualize the evolution of the highly diverse extratropical plant communities of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) and to assess the environmental impacts on early human hunter-gatherers. We present new speleothem stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios (δ18Oc and δ13C) from two caves at Pinnacle Point, South Africa, covering the time between 330 and 43 ka. Composite δ18Oc and δ13C records were constructed for Staircase Cave and PP29 by combining all stable isotope analyses into a single time series and smoothing by a 3-point running mean. δ18Oc and δ13C values record changes in rainfall seasonality and the proportions of C3 and C4 plants in the vegetation, respectively. We show that in general increased summer rainfall brought about a wider spread of C4 grasses and retreat of the C3 plant–dominated GCFR communities. The occurrence of summer rainfall on the southern coast of South Africa was linked to total rainfall amounts in the interior region through tropical temperate troughs. These rainfall systems shifted the southern coastal climate toward more summer (winter) rainfall when precession was high (low) and/or the westerlies were in a northern (southern) position.

Keywords

South AfricaSpeleothemOxygen isotopesCarbon isotopes
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 265 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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