Küchler, Rony R; Schefuß, Enno; Beckmann, Britta; Dupont, Lydie M; Wefer, Gerold (2013): Plant-wax, alkenone and major element analyses of ODP Site 659 for the Last Glacial cycle and associated coretop data [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.821215, Supplement to: Küchler, RR et al. (2013): NW African hydrology and vegetation during the Last Glacial cycle reflected in plant-wax-specific hydrogen and carbon isotopes. Quaternary Science Reviews, 82, 56-67, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.10.013
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Abstract:
We present a hydrologic reconstruction of the Sahara-Sahel transition, covering the complete last glacial cycle (130 ka), based on a combination of plant-wax-specific hydrogen (dD) and carbon isotopes (d13C). The dD and d13C signatures of long-chain n-alkanes from ODP Site 659 off NW Africa reveal a significant anti-correlation. Complementary to published pollen data, we infer that this plant-wax signal reflects sensitive responses of the vegetation cover to precipitation changes in the Sahel region, as well as varying contributions from biomes north of the Sahara (C3 domain) by North-East Trade Winds (NETW). During arid phases, especially the northern parts of the Sahel likely experienced crucial water stress, which resulted in a pronounced contraction of the vegetation cover, thus reducing the amount of C4 plant waxes from the region. The increase in NETW strength during dry periods further promoted a more pronounced C3-plant-wax signal derived from the North African C3 plant domain. During humid periods, the C4-dominated Sahelian environments spread northward into the Saharan realm, in association with lower NETW inputs of C3 plant waxes. Arid-humid cycles deduced from plant-wax dD are in accordance with concomitant changes in weathering intensity reflected in varying major element distributions. Environmental shifts are generally linked to periods with large fluctuations in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. During Marine Isotope Stages 2 and 3, when insolation variability was low, coupling of the hydrologic regime to alkenone-based estimates of NE Atlantic sea-surface temperatures becomes apparent.
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Coverage:
Median Latitude: 18.712431 * Median Longitude: -20.106095 * South-bound Latitude: 18.077200 * West-bound Longitude: -21.026200 * North-bound Latitude: 20.941700 * East-bound Longitude: -17.046700
Date/Time Start: 1986-03-09T09:30:00 * Date/Time End: 2002-04-29T14:39:00
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
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3 datasets
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Datasets listed in this publication series
- Küchler, RR; Schefuß, E; Beckmann, B et al. (2013): Major element analyses of ODP Site 108-659 for the Last Glacial cycle. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.821214
- Küchler, RR; Schefuß, E; Beckmann, B et al. (2013): Plant-wax and alkenone analyses of ODP Hole 108-659B for the Last Glacial cycle. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.821212
- Küchler, RR; Schefuß, E; Beckmann, B et al. (2013): Plant-wax and alkenone analyses of surface sediment samples from the North Atlantic Ocean. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.821412