@misc{castaeda2009soac, author={Isla S {Casta\~{n}eda} and Stefan {Mulitza} and Enno {Schefu{\ss}} and Raquel A {Lopes dos Santos} and Jaap S {Sinninghe Damst\'{e}} and Stefan {Schouten}}, title={{Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes ratios of sediment core GeoB9528-3}}, year={2009}, doi={10.1594/PANGAEA.729198}, url={https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.729198}, note={Supplement to: Casta\~{n}eda, IS et al. (2009): Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(48), 20159-20163, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905771106}, abstract={The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes (a proxy for C3 vs. C4 vegetation) in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained C3 plants (likely trees), indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. Our data suggest that variability in the strength of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a main control on vegetation distribution in central North Africa, and we note expansions of C3 vegetation during the African Humid Period (early Holocene) and within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (approx. 50-45 ka) and MIS 5 (approx. 120-110 ka). The wet periods within MIS 3 and 5 coincide with major human migration events out of sub-Saharan Africa. Our results thus suggest that changes in AMOC influenced North African climate and, at times, contributed to amenable conditions in the central Sahara/Sahel, allowing humans to cross this otherwise inhospitable region.}, type={data set}, publisher={PANGAEA} }