Articles | Volume 21, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1383-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-21-1383-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
31 Jul 2025
Research article |
| 31 Jul 2025
| 31 Jul 2025
Climate variability off Africa's southern Cape over the past 260 000 years
Karl Purcell
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, 5007, Norway
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, 5007, Norway
Margit H. Simon
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
NORCE, Norwegian Research Centre, Bergen, 5007, Norway
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, 5007, Norway
Ellie J. Pryor
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, 5007, Norway
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway
Simon J. Armitage
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway
H. J. L. van der Lubbe
Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 1081 HV, the Netherlands
Eystein Jansen
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, 5007, Norway
SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, 5007, Norway
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Akbar Aydin Oglu Huseynov, Jan Wijbrans, Klaudia Kuiper, and Jeroen van der Lubbe
Geochronology, 7, 173–197, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-173-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-173-2025, 2025
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This study explores quartz veins in Germany's Rursee area, formed during the Variscan Orogeny and later reactivated by tectonic activity in the Jurassic–Cretaceous period. Using advanced isotopic dating techniques, it examines how these veins influenced fluid flow and quartz recrystallization. By tackling the challenges of dating fluid activity, this research offers new insights into argon gas degassing in quartz minerals.
Wanyee Wong, Bjørg Risebrobakken, Malin Ödalen, Amandine Aline Tisserand, Kirsten Fahl, Ruediger Stein, and Eystein Jansen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1542, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1542, 2025
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Sea ice variability in the eastern Fram Strait between, and within, individual Greenland Stadials and Interstadials is documented by high-resolution proxy reconstructions. Unlike the southeastern Nordic Seas and North Atlantic, these changes were less linked to Greenland climate oscillations. Instead, they were driven by ocean heat transport, regulated by the interplay between AMOC strength and sea ice cover in the southeastern Nordic Seas.
Chloe A. Brashear, Tyler R. Jones, Valerie Morris, Bruce H. Vaughn, William H. G. Roberts, William B. Skorski, Abigail G. Hughes, Richard Nunn, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Kurt M. Cuffey, Bo M. Vinther, Todd Sowers, Christo Buizert, Vasileios Gkinis, Christian Holme, Mari F. Jensen, Sofia E. Kjellman, Petra M. Langebroek, Florian Mekhaldi, Kevin S. Rozmiarek, Jonathan W. Rheinlænder, Margit H. Simon, Giulia Sinnl, Silje Smith-Johnsen, and James W. C. White
Clim. Past, 21, 529–546, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-529-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-529-2025, 2025
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We use a series of spectral techniques to quantify the strength of high-frequency climate variability in northeastern Greenland to 50 000 ka before present. Importantly, we find that variability consistently decreases hundreds of years prior to Dansgaard–Oeschger warming events. Model simulations suggest a change in North Atlantic sea ice behavior contributed to this pattern, thus providing new information on the conditions which preceded abrupt climate change during the Last Glacial Period.
Hubert B. Vonhof, Sophie Verheyden, Dominique Bonjean, Stéphane Pirson, Michael Weber, Denis Scholz, John Hellstrom, Hai Cheng, Xue Jia, Kévin Di Modica, Gregory Abrams, Marjan A. P. van Nunen, Joost Ruiter, Michèlle van der Does, Daniel Böhl, and Jeroen H. J. L. van der Lubbe
Clim. Past, 20, 2741–2758, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2741-2024, 2024
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The sedimentary sequence in Scladina Cave (Belgium) is well-known for its rich archeological assemblages and its numerous faunal remains. Of particular interest is the presence of a nearly complete jaw bone of a Neanderthal child. In this study, we present new uranium series ages of stalagmites from the archeological sequence that allow more precise dating of the archeological finds. One key result is that the Neanderthal child may be slightly older than previously thought.
Claire Waelbroeck, Jerry Tjiputra, Chuncheng Guo, Kerim H. Nisancioglu, Eystein Jansen, Natalia Vázquez Riveiros, Samuel Toucanne, Frédérique Eynaud, Linda Rossignol, Fabien Dewilde, Elodie Marchès, Susana Lebreiro, and Silvia Nave
Clim. Past, 19, 901–913, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-901-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-901-2023, 2023
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The precise geometry and extent of Atlantic circulation changes that accompanied rapid climate changes of the last glacial period are still unknown. Here, we combine carbon isotopic records from 18 Atlantic sediment cores with numerical simulations and decompose the carbon isotopic change across a cold-to-warm transition into remineralization and circulation components. Our results show that the replacement of southern-sourced by northern-sourced water plays a dominant role below ~ 3000 m depth.
Anna Binczewska, Bjørg Risebrobakken, Irina Polovodova Asteman, Matthias Moros, Amandine Tisserand, Eystein Jansen, and Andrzej Witkowski
Biogeosciences, 15, 5909–5928, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5909-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-5909-2018, 2018
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Primary productivity is an important factor in the functioning and structuring of the coastal ecosystem. Thus, two sediment cores from the Skagerrak (North Sea) were investigated in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of primary productivity changes during the last millennium and identify associated forcing factors (e.g. anthropogenic, climate). The cores were dated and analysed for palaeoproductivity proxies and palaeothermometers.
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Subject: Proxy Use-Development-Validation | Archive: Marine Archives | Timescale: Milankovitch
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
Mid-Cretaceous paleoenvironmental changes in the western Tethys
The C32 alkane-1,15-diol as a proxy of late Quaternary riverine input in coastal margins
Rick Hennekam, Katharine M. Grant, Eelco J. Rohling, Rik Tjallingii, David Heslop, Andrew P. Roberts, Lucas J. Lourens, and Gert-Jan Reichart
Clim. Past, 18, 2509–2521, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2509-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2509-2022, 2022
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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.
Cinzia Bottini and Elisabetta Erba
Clim. Past, 14, 1147–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1147-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1147-2018, 2018
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The mid-Cretaceous (ca. 121 to 94 Ma) was characterized by a generally warm climate punctuated by supra-regional to global phenomena of widespread ocean anoxia. In this work we present the first complete record of temperature and fertility variations through the mid-Cretaceous in the western Tethys based on calcareous nannofossils. The new record indicates that temperatures and fertility were rather fluctuating but mostly independently, and they were not systematically associated with anoxia.
Julie Lattaud, Denise Dorhout, Hartmut Schulz, Isla S. Castañeda, Enno Schefuß, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, and Stefan Schouten
Clim. Past, 13, 1049–1061, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1049-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1049-2017, 2017
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The study of past sedimentary records from coastal margins allows us to reconstruct variations in terrestrial input into the marine realm and to gain insight into continental climatic variability. The study of two sediment cores close to river mouths allowed us to show the potential of long-chain diols as riverine input proxy.
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Short summary
During the past 260 000 years, rains over southern South Africa underwent many fluctuations which could have affected the behaviour and innovations of humans living there. In this study we reconstruct the rainfall during this period in this area using X-ray analysis of a sediment core retrieved in the ocean south of South Africa. We confirmed that a 23 000-year cycle of the orbit of the Earth affected rainfall and that rainfall was higher around 117 000, 93 000 and 72 000 years ago.
During the past 260 000 years, rains over southern South Africa underwent many fluctuations...
