Book contents
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern AfricaPhysical and Human Dimensions
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 The context of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 2 A brief geological history of southern Africa
- 3 A continental-scale perspective on landscape evolution in southern Africa during the Cenozoic
- 4 Hominin origins and evolution during the Neogene
- 5 Hominin evolution in Africa during the Quaternary
- 6 Quaternary environmental change on the southern African coastal plain
- 7 Dating the southern African landscape
- 8 Glacial and periglacial geomorphology
- 9 Colluvial deposits and slope instability
- 10 Desert dune environments
- 11 Changes in fluvial systems during the Quaternary
- 12 Wetlands in southern Africa
- 13 Sandy coasts
- 14 Environmental change during the Pleistocene and Holocene: Estuaries and lagoons of southern Africa
- 15 Soils and duricrusts
- 16 Karstic systems
- 17 Terrestrial ecosystem changes in the late Quaternary
- 18 Faunal evidence for mid- and late Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 19 Pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil evidence of Neogene and Quaternary environments in southern Africa
- 20 Minerogenic microfossil records of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 21 Development of the archaeological record in southern Africa during the Earlier Stone Age
- 22 Development of the archaeological record during the Middle Stone Age of South Africa
- 23 Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and herders
- 24 Southernmost Africans, archaeology and the environment during the Holocene
- 25 Landscape–climate–human relations in the Quaternary of southern Africa
- Index
- References
12 - Wetlands in southern Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2016
Book contents
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern AfricaPhysical and Human Dimensions
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 The context of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 2 A brief geological history of southern Africa
- 3 A continental-scale perspective on landscape evolution in southern Africa during the Cenozoic
- 4 Hominin origins and evolution during the Neogene
- 5 Hominin evolution in Africa during the Quaternary
- 6 Quaternary environmental change on the southern African coastal plain
- 7 Dating the southern African landscape
- 8 Glacial and periglacial geomorphology
- 9 Colluvial deposits and slope instability
- 10 Desert dune environments
- 11 Changes in fluvial systems during the Quaternary
- 12 Wetlands in southern Africa
- 13 Sandy coasts
- 14 Environmental change during the Pleistocene and Holocene: Estuaries and lagoons of southern Africa
- 15 Soils and duricrusts
- 16 Karstic systems
- 17 Terrestrial ecosystem changes in the late Quaternary
- 18 Faunal evidence for mid- and late Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 19 Pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil evidence of Neogene and Quaternary environments in southern Africa
- 20 Minerogenic microfossil records of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa
- 21 Development of the archaeological record in southern Africa during the Earlier Stone Age
- 22 Development of the archaeological record during the Middle Stone Age of South Africa
- 23 Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and herders
- 24 Southernmost Africans, archaeology and the environment during the Holocene
- 25 Landscape–climate–human relations in the Quaternary of southern Africa
- Index
- References
Summary
Abstract
In southern Africa, wetlands of different types are an integral part of the drainage network, yet evolve and are sensitive to different combinations of geologic, climatic, geomorphic, edaphic and hydrologic controls. Understanding of these controls can help in the interpretation of environmental and climatic records from different wetland types, given that wetland sensitivity to environmental and climatic changes may vary throughout their ‘life cycle’. The chapter discusses inland wetland records from dated sites in South Africa in order to consider their significance for reconstructing late glacial and Holocene climates; and the relationship of wetlands to preservation of the Pleistocene archaeological record. Wetlands are sensitive to degradation under contemporary environmental and climatic changes, which may impact on their hydrological and ecological function as well as the integrity of associated archaeological sites.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern AfricaPhysical and Human Dimensions, pp. 188 - 202Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016
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