Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr; William D. Gosling; Ralf Vogelsang; André Bahr; Eleanor M.L. Scerri; Asfawossen Asrat; Andrew S. Cohen; Walter Düsing; Verena Foerster; Henry F. Lamb; Mark A. Maslin; Helen M. Roberts; Frank Schäbitz; Martin H. Trauth

doi:10.1073/pnas.2018277118

Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, William D. Gosling, Ralf Vogelsang, André Bahr, Eleanor M.L. Scerri, Asfawossen Asrat, Andrew S. Cohen, Walter Düsing, Verena Foerster, Henry F. Lamb, Mark A. Maslin, Helen M. Roberts, Frank Schäbitz, Martin H. Trauth

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Niño Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e2018277118
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	118
Issue number	23
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018277118
State	Published - Jun 8 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

African paleoclimate
Hominin evolution
Orbital forcing
Walker and Hadley circulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

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10.1073/pnas.2018277118

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Kaboth-Bahr, S., Gosling, W. D., Vogelsang, R., Bahr, A., Scerri, E. M. L., Asrat, A., Cohen, A. S., Düsing, W., Foerster, V., Lamb, H. F., Maslin, M. A., Roberts, H. M., Schäbitz, F., & Trauth, M. H. (2021). Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(23), Article e2018277118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018277118

Kaboth-Bahr, S, Gosling, WD, Vogelsang, R, Bahr, A, Scerri, EML, Asrat, A, Cohen, AS, Düsing, W, Foerster, V, Lamb, HF, Maslin, MA, Roberts, HM, Schäbitz, F & Trauth, MH 2021, 'Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 118, no. 23, e2018277118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018277118

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abstract = "In this study, we synthesize terrestrial and marine proxy records, spanning the past 620 ky, to decipher pan-African climate variability and its drivers and potential linkages to hominin evolution. We find a tight correlation between moisture availability across Africa to El Ni{\~n}o Southern Ocean oscillation (ENSO) variability, a manifestation of the Walker Circulation, that was most likely driven by changes in Earth's eccentricity. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude insolation was a prominent driver of pan-African climate change during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. We argue that these low-latitude climate processes governed the dispersion and evolution of vegetation as well as mammals in eastern and western Africa by increasing resource-rich and stable ecotonal settings thought to have been important to early modern humans.",

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AU - Scerri, Eleanor M.L.

AU - Asrat, Asfawossen

AU - Cohen, Andrew S.

AU - Düsing, Walter

AU - Foerster, Verena

AU - Lamb, Henry F.

AU - Maslin, Mark A.

AU - Roberts, Helen M.

AU - Schäbitz, Frank

AU - Trauth, Martin H.

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KW - Hominin evolution

KW - Orbital forcing

KW - Walker and Hadley circulation

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Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans

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