Articles | Volume 15, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1153-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1153-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 Jun 2019
Research article |
| 27 Jun 2019
| 27 Jun 2019
Late Quaternary climate variability at Mfabeni peatland, eastern South Africa
Charlotte Miller
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Jemma Finch
School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Trevor Hill
School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Francien Peterse
Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Marc Humphries
Molecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Matthias Zabel
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Enno Schefuß
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
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Jingjing Guo, Miriam Glendell, Jeroen Meersmans, Frédérique Kirkels, Jack J. Middelburg, and Francien Peterse
Biogeosciences, 17, 3183–3201, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3183-2020, 2020
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Emily Dearing Crampton-Flood, Lars J. Noorbergen, Damian Smits, R. Christine Boschman, Timme H. Donders, Dirk K. Munsterman, Johan ten Veen, Francien Peterse, Lucas Lourens, and Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
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Maria-Elena Vorrath, Juliane Müller, Oliver Esper, Gesine Mollenhauer, Christian Haas, Enno Schefuß, and Kirsten Fahl
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Loeka L. Jongejans, Jens Strauss, Josefine Lenz, Francien Peterse, Kai Mangelsdorf, Matthias Fuchs, and Guido Grosse
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Julian D. Hartman, Francesca Sangiorgi, Ariadna Salabarnada, Francien Peterse, Alexander J. P. Houben, Stefan Schouten, Henk Brinkhuis, Carlota Escutia, and Peter K. Bijl
Clim. Past, 14, 1275–1297, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1275-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1275-2018, 2018
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Julie Lattaud, Frédérique Kirkels, Francien Peterse, Chantal V. Freymond, Timothy I. Eglinton, Jens Hefter, Gesine Mollenhauer, Sergio Balzano, Laura Villanueva, Marcel T. J. van der Meer, Ellen C. Hopmans, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, and Stefan Schouten
Biogeosciences, 15, 4147–4161, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4147-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4147-2018, 2018
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Biogeosciences, 15, 3357–3375, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3357-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3357-2018, 2018
Timme H. Donders, Niels A. G. M. van Helmond, Roel Verreussel, Dirk Munsterman, Johan ten Veen, Robert P. Speijer, Johan W. H. Weijers, Francesca Sangiorgi, Francien Peterse, Gert-Jan Reichart, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, Lucas Lourens, Gesa Kuhlmann, and Henk Brinkhuis
Clim. Past, 14, 397–411, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-397-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-397-2018, 2018
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The buildup and melting of ice during the early glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere, around 2.5 million years ago, were far shorter in duration than during the last million years. Based on molecular compounds and microfossils from sediments dating back to the early glaciations we show that the temperature on land and in the sea changed simultaneously and was a major factor in the ice buildup in the Northern Hemisphere. These data provide key insights into the dynamics of early glaciations.
Rony R. Kuechler, Lydie M. Dupont, and Enno Schefuß
Clim. Past, 14, 73–84, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-73-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-73-2018, 2018
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Measuring deuterium and stable carbon isotopes of higher plant wax extracted from marine sediments offshore of Mauritania, we recovered a record of hydrology and vegetation change in West Africa for two Pliocene intervals: 5.0–4.6 and 3.6–3.0 Ma. We find that changes in local summer insolation cannot fully explain the variations in the West African monsoon and that latitudinal insolation and temperature gradients are important drivers of tropical monsoon systems.
María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi, Stéphanie Desprat, Anne-Laure Daniau, Frank C. Bassinot, Josué M. Polanco-Martínez, Sandy P. Harrison, Judy R. M. Allen, R. Scott Anderson, Hermann Behling, Raymonde Bonnefille, Francesc Burjachs, José S. Carrión, Rachid Cheddadi, James S. Clark, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Colin. J. Courtney Mustaphi, Georg H. Debusk, Lydie M. Dupont, Jemma M. Finch, William J. Fletcher, Marco Giardini, Catalina González, William D. Gosling, Laurie D. Grigg, Eric C. Grimm, Ryoma Hayashi, Karin Helmens, Linda E. Heusser, Trevor Hill, Geoffrey Hope, Brian Huntley, Yaeko Igarashi, Tomohisa Irino, Bonnie Jacobs, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Sayuri Kawai, A. Peter Kershaw, Fujio Kumon, Ian T. Lawson, Marie-Pierre Ledru, Anne-Marie Lézine, Ping Mei Liew, Donatella Magri, Robert Marchant, Vasiliki Margari, Francis E. Mayle, G. Merna McKenzie, Patrick Moss, Stefanie Müller, Ulrich C. Müller, Filipa Naughton, Rewi M. Newnham, Tadamichi Oba, Ramón Pérez-Obiol, Roberta Pini, Cesare Ravazzi, Katy H. Roucoux, Stephen M. Rucina, Louis Scott, Hikaru Takahara, Polichronis C. Tzedakis, Dunia H. Urrego, Bas van Geel, B. Guido Valencia, Marcus J. Vandergoes, Annie Vincens, Cathy L. Whitlock, Debra A. Willard, and Masanobu Yamamoto
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 679–695, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-679-2017, 2017
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The ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka) plotted against a common chronology; 32 also provide charcoal records. The database allows for the reconstruction of the regional expression, vegetation and fire of past abrupt climate changes that are comparable to those expected in the 21st century. This work is a major contribution to understanding the processes behind rapid climate change.
Annette Hahn, Enno Schefuß, Sergio Andò, Hayley C. Cawthra, Peter Frenzel, Martin Kugel, Stephanie Meschner, Gesine Mollenhauer, and Matthias Zabel
Clim. Past, 13, 649–665, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-649-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-649-2017, 2017
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Our study demonstrates that a source to sink analysis in the Gouritz catchment can be used to obtain valuable paleoclimatic information form the year-round rainfall zone. In combination with SST reconstructions these data are a valuable contribution to the discussion of Southern Hemisphere palaeoenvironments and climate variability (in particular atmosphere–ocean circulation and hydroclimate change) in the South African Holocene.
Shuwen Sun, Enno Schefuß, Stefan Mulitza, Cristiano M. Chiessi, André O. Sawakuchi, Matthias Zabel, Paul A. Baker, Jens Hefter, and Gesine Mollenhauer
Biogeosciences, 14, 2495–2512, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2495-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2495-2017, 2017
C. Häggi, C. M. Chiessi, and E. Schefuß
Biogeosciences, 12, 7239–7249, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7239-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-7239-2015, 2015
F. Peterse, C. M. Moy, and T. I. Eglinton
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A. Govin, C. M. Chiessi, M. Zabel, A. O. Sawakuchi, D. Heslop, T. Hörner, Y. Zhang, and S. Mulitza
Clim. Past, 10, 843–862, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-843-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-843-2014, 2014
J. A. Collins, A. Govin, S. Mulitza, D. Heslop, M. Zabel, J. Hartmann, U. Röhl, and G. Wefer
Clim. Past, 9, 1181–1191, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1181-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1181-2013, 2013
P. Pop Ristova, F. Wenzhöfer, A. Ramette, M. Zabel, D. Fischer, S. Kasten, and A. Boetius
Biogeosciences, 9, 5031–5048, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-5031-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-9-5031-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Subject: Vegetation Dynamics | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Pleistocene
Reconstruction of Holocene and Last Interglacial vegetation dynamics and wildfire activity in southern Siberia
Global biome changes over the last 21,000 years inferred from model-data comparisons
Spring onset and seasonality patterns during the Late Glacial period in the eastern Baltic region
Pollen-based quantitative land-cover reconstruction for northern Asia covering the last 40 ka cal BP
The last glacial termination on the eastern flank of the central Patagonian Andes (47 ° S)
Paleoclimate in continental northwestern Europe during the Eemian and early Weichselian (125–97 ka): insights from a Belgian speleothem
Terrestrial biosphere changes over the last 120 kyr
Vegetation responses to interglacial warming in the Arctic: examples from Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic
Hominin responses to environmental changes during the Middle Pleistocene in central and southern Italy
High-latitude environmental change during MIS 9 and 11: biogeochemical evidence from Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russia
Masked millennial-scale climate variations in South West Africa during the last glaciation
Jade Margerum, Julia Homann, Stuart Umbo, Gernot Nehrke, Thorsten Hoffmann, Anton Vaks, Aleksandr Kononov, Alexander Osintsev, Alena Giesche, Andrew Mason, Franziska A. Lechleitner, Gideon M. Henderson, Ola Kwiecien, and Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach
Clim. Past, 21, 661–677, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-661-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-661-2025, 2025
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We analyse a southern Siberian stalagmite to reconstruct soil respiration, wildfire, and vegetation trends during the Last Interglacial (LIG) (124.1–118.8 ka) and the Holocene (10–0 ka). Wildfires were more prevalent during the LIG than the Holocene and were supported by fire-prone species, low soil respiration, and a greater difference between summer and winter temperature. We show that vegetation type and summer/winter temperature contrast are strong drivers of Siberian wildfires.
Chenzhi Li, Anne Dallmeyer, Jian Ni, Manuel Chevalier, Matteo Willeit, Andrei A. Andreev, Xianyong Cao, Laura Schild, Birgit Heim, and Ulrike Herzschuh
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1862, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1862, 2024
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We present a global megabiome dynamics and distributions derived from pollen-based reconstructions over the last 21,000 years, which are suitable for the evaluation of Earth System Model-based paleo-megabiome simulations. We identified strong deviations between pollen- and model-derived megabiome distributions in the circum-Arctic areas and Tibetan Plateau during the Last Glacial Maximum and early deglaciation, as well as in North Africa and the Mediterranean regions during the Holocene.
Leeli Amon, Friederike Wagner-Cremer, Jüri Vassiljev, and Siim Veski
Clim. Past, 18, 2143–2153, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2143-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2143-2022, 2022
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The spring onset and growing season dynamics during the Late Glacial period in the Baltic region were reconstructed using the micro-phenology based on dwarf birch subfossil leaf cuticles. The comparison of pollen- and chironomid-inferred past temperature estimations with spring onset, growth degree day, and plant macrofossil data shows coherent patterns during the cooler Older Dryas and warmer Bølling–Allerød periods but more complicated climate dynamics during the Younger Dryas cold reversal.
Xianyong Cao, Fang Tian, Furong Li, Marie-José Gaillard, Natalia Rudaya, Qinghai Xu, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 15, 1503–1536, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1503-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1503-2019, 2019
Short summary
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The high-quality pollen records (collected from lakes and peat bogs) of the last 40 ka cal BP form north Asia are homogenized and the plant abundance signals are calibrated by the modern relative pollen productivity estimates. Calibrated plant abundances for each site are generally consistent with in situ modern vegetation, and vegetation changes within the regions are characterized by minor changes in the abundance of major taxa rather than by invasions of new taxa during the last 40 ka cal BP.
William I. Henríquez, Rodrigo Villa-Martínez, Isabel Vilanova, Ricardo De Pol-Holz, and Patricio I. Moreno
Clim. Past, 13, 879–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-879-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-879-2017, 2017
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Results from Lago Edita, central-western Patagonia (47° S), allow examination of the timing and direction of paleoclimate signals during the last glacial termination (T1) in southern midlatitudes. Cold and wet conditions prevailed during T1, terminated by warm pulses at 13 000 and 11 000 yr BP. Delayed warming, relative to sites along the Pacific coast, raises the possibility that residual ice masses in the Andes induced regional cooling along downwind sectors of central Patagonia during T1.
Stef Vansteenberge, Sophie Verheyden, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, Eddy Keppens, and Philippe Claeys
Clim. Past, 12, 1445–1458, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1445-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1445-2016, 2016
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The use of stalagmites for last interglacial continental climate reconstructions in Europe has been successful in the past; however to expand the geographical coverage, additional data from Belgium is presented. It has been shown that stalagmite growth, morphology and stable isotope content reflect regional and local climate conditions, with Eemian optimum climate occurring between 125.3 and 117.3 ka. The start the Weichselian is expressed by a stop of growth caused by a drying climate.
B. A. A. Hoogakker, R. S. Smith, J. S. Singarayer, R. Marchant, I. C. Prentice, J. R. M. Allen, R. S. Anderson, S. A. Bhagwat, H. Behling, O. Borisova, M. Bush, A. Correa-Metrio, A. de Vernal, J. M. Finch, B. Fréchette, S. Lozano-Garcia, W. D. Gosling, W. Granoszewski, E. C. Grimm, E. Grüger, J. Hanselman, S. P. Harrison, T. R. Hill, B. Huntley, G. Jiménez-Moreno, P. Kershaw, M.-P. Ledru, D. Magri, M. McKenzie, U. Müller, T. Nakagawa, E. Novenko, D. Penny, L. Sadori, L. Scott, J. Stevenson, P. J. Valdes, M. Vandergoes, A. Velichko, C. Whitlock, and C. Tzedakis
Clim. Past, 12, 51–73, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-51-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-51-2016, 2016
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In this paper we use two climate models to test how Earth’s vegetation responded to changes in climate over the last 120 000 years, looking at warm interglacial climates like today, cold ice-age glacial climates, and intermediate climates. The models agree well with observations from pollen, showing smaller forested areas and larger desert areas during cold periods. Forests store most terrestrial carbon; the terrestrial carbon lost during cold climates was most likely relocated to the oceans.
A. V. Lozhkin and P. M. Anderson
Clim. Past, 9, 1211–1219, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1211-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1211-2013, 2013
R. Orain, V. Lebreton, E. Russo Ermolli, A.-M. Sémah, S. Nomade, Q. Shao, J.-J. Bahain, U. Thun Hohenstein, and C. Peretto
Clim. Past, 9, 687–697, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-687-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-687-2013, 2013
R. M. D'Anjou, J. H. Wei, I. S. Castañeda, J. Brigham-Grette, S. T. Petsch, and D. B. Finkelstein
Clim. Past, 9, 567–581, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-567-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-567-2013, 2013
I. Hessler, L. Dupont, D. Handiani, A. Paul, U. Merkel, and G. Wefer
Clim. Past, 8, 841–853, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-841-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-841-2012, 2012
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Short summary
Here we reconstruct vegetation and precipitation, in eastern South Africa, over the last 32 000 years, by measuring the stable carbon and hydrogen isotope composition of plant waxes from Mfabeni peat bog (KwaZulu-Natal). Our results indicate that the late Quaternary climate in eastern South Africa did not respond directly to orbital forcing or to changes in sea-surface temperatures. Our findings stress the influence of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies in driving climate change in the region.
Here we reconstruct vegetation and precipitation, in eastern South Africa, over the last 32 000...
