Articles | Volume 18, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2509-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2509-2022
Research article
 | 
22 Nov 2022
Research article |  | 22 Nov 2022

Accurately calibrated X-ray fluorescence core scanning (XRF-CS) record of Ti ∕ Al reveals Early Pleistocene aridity and humidity variability over North Africa and its close relationship to low-latitude insolation

Rick Hennekam, Katharine M. Grant, Eelco J. Rohling, Rik Tjallingii, David Heslop, Andrew P. Roberts, Lucas J. Lourens, and Gert-Jan Reichart

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Cited articles

Berends, C. J., Köhler, P., Lourens, L. J., and van de Wal, R. S. W.: On the cause of the mid-Pleistocene transition, Rev. Geophys., 59, e2020RG000727, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020RG000727, 2021. 
Blanchet, C., Osborne, A. H., Tjallingii, R., Ehrmann, W., Friedrich, T., Timmermann, A., Brückman, W., and Frank, M.: Drivers of river reactivation in North Africa during the last glacial cycle, Nat. Geosci., 14, 97–103, 2021. 
Bloemendal, J. and deMenocal, P.: Evidence for a change in the periodicity of tropical climate cycles at 2.4 Myr from whole-core magnetic susceptibility measurements, Nature, 342, 897–900, 1989. 
Bloemsma, M. R.: Development of a Modelling Framework for Core Data Integration using XRF Scanning, Delft University of Technology, 229 pp., https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:95a90787-edc7-4f1f-9e6a-b2453effabdb, 2015. 
Böhm, E., Lippold, J., Gutjahr, M., Frank, M., Blaser, P., Antz, B., Fohlmeister, J., Frank, N., Andersen, M., and Deininger, M.: Strong and deep Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial cycle, Nature, 517, 73–76, 2015. 
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Short summary
The ratio of titanium to aluminum (Ti/Al) is an established way to reconstruct North African climate in eastern Mediterranean Sea sediments. We demonstrate here how to obtain reliable Ti/Al data using an efficient scanning method that allows rapid acquisition of long climate records at low expense. Using this method, we reconstruct a 3-million-year North African climate record. African environmental variability was paced predominantly by low-latitude insolation from 3–1.2 million years ago.
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