Hostname: page-component-66d9dcfd78-njmxx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-08T09:45:33.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary Climate Changes in Central Africa as Inferred from Terrigenous Input to the Niger Fan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Matthias Zabel ,
Ralph R. Schneider ,
Thomas Wagner ,
Adesina T. Adegbie ,
Uwe de Vries  and
Sadat Kolonic
Matthias Zabel
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: mzabel@uni-bremen.de
Ralph R. Schneider
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: mzabel@uni-bremen.de
Thomas Wagner
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: mzabel@uni-bremen.de
Adesina T. Adegbie
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: mzabel@uni-bremen.de
Uwe de Vries
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: mzabel@uni-bremen.de
Sadat Kolonic
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334, Bremen, Germany, E-mail: mzabel@uni-bremen.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Time series of terrigenous source elements (Al, K, Ti, Zr) from core GeoB4901-8 recovered from the deep-sea fan of the Niger River record variations in riverine sediment discharge over the past 245,000 yr. Although the flux rates of all the elements depend on physical erosion, which is mainly controlled by the extent of vegetation coverage in central Africa, element/Al ratios reflect conditions for chemical weathering in the river basin. Maximum sediment input to the ocean occurs during cold and arid periods, when precipitation intensity and associated freshwater runoff are reduced. High carbonate contents during the same periods indicate that the sediment supply has a positive effect on river-induced marine productivity. In general, variations in the terrestrial signals contain a strong precessional component in tune with changes in low-latitude solar radiation. However, the terrestrial signal lags the insolation signal by several thousand years. K/Al, Ti/Al, and Zr/Al records reveal that African monsoonal precipitation depends on high-latitude forcing. We attribute the shift between insolation cycle and river discharge to the frequently reported nonlinear response of African climate to primary orbital configurations, which may be caused by a complex interaction of the secondary control parameters, such as surface albedo and/or thermohaline circulation.

Keywords

African climate changeNiger fanterrigenous fractionelemental ratio

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , September 2001 , pp. 207 - 217
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adegbie, A, Klump, J, Schneider, R, and Wagner, T Visual core description and stratigraphy. Report and Preliminary Results of METEOR-Cruise M 41/1, Málaga-Libreville, 13.2.–15.3.1998 with Partial Results of METEOR-Cruise 41/2, Libreville-Vitória, 18.03.1998-15.04.1998. (1998). Universität Bremen, Bremen. p. 28–81.Google Scholar
Bertrand, P, Shimmield, G, Martinez, P, Grousset, F, Jorissen, F, Paterne, M, Pujol, C, Bouloubassi, I, Buat Menard, P, Peypouquet, J.-P, Beaufort, L, Sicre, M.A, Lallier-Verges, E, Foster, J.M, and Ternois, Y The glacial ocean productivity hypothesis: The importance of regional temporal and spatial studies. Marine Geology 130, (1996). 1 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boeglin, J.L, and Probst, J.L Physical and chemical weathering rates and CO2 consumption in tropical lateritic environment: The upper Niger basin. Chemical Geology 148, (1998). 137 156.Google Scholar
Bonifay, D, and Giresse, P Middle to late Quaternary sediment flux and post-depositional processes between the continental slope off Gabon and the Mid-Guinean margin. Marine Geology 106, (1992). 107 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, E.A Chemical accumulation variations under the Peru Current during the past 130000 years. Journal of Geophysical Research 88, (1983). 7667 7680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brovkin, V, Claussen, M, Petoukhov, V, and Ganopolski, A On the stability of the atmosphere-vegetation system in the Sahara/Sahel region. Journal of Geophysical Research 103, (1998). 613 624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, S.E The mineralogy and geochemistry of nearshore sediments. Riley, J.P, and Chester, R Treatise on Chemical Oceanography, 6. (1976). Academic Press, San Diego. 187 280.Google Scholar
Claussen, M, Kubatzki, C, Brovkin, V, Ganopolski, A, Hoelzmann, P, and Pacchur, H.-J Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation in the mid-Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 26, (1999). 2037 2040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, M.T, and Bonan, G.B Feedbacks between climate and surface water in northern Africa during the middle Holocene. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, (1997). 11087 11101.Google Scholar
Crowley, T.J Depth-dependent carbonate dissolution changes in the eastern Atlantic during the last 170,000 years. Marine Geology 54, (1983). 21 25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delany, A.C, Parkin, D.W, Griffin, J.J, Goldberg, E.D, and Reimann, B.E.F Airborne dust collected at Barbados. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 31, (1967). 885 909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
deMenocal, P.B, and Rind, D Sensitivity of Asian and African climate to variations in seasonal insolation, glacial ice cover, sea surface temperature, and Asian orography. Journal of Geophysical Research 98, (1993). 7265 7287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
deMenocal, P.B, Ruddiman, W.F, and Pokras, E.M Influence of high- and low-latitude processes on African terrestrial climate: Pleistocene eolian records from equatorial Atlantic Ocean drilling program site 663. Paleocenography 8, (1993). 209 242.Google Scholar
deMenocal, P, Ortiz, J, Guilderson, T, Adkins, J, Sarnthein, M, Baker, L, and Yarusinsky, M Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: Rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 347 361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
deMenocal, P, Ortiz, J, Guilderson, T, and Sarnthein, M Coherent High- and Low-Latitude climate variability during the Holocene warm period. Science 288, (2000). 2198 2202.Google Scholar
Diester-Haass, L Differentiation of high oceanic fertility in marine sediments caused by coastal upwelling and/or river discharge off Northwest Africa during the Late Quaternary. Thiede, J, and Suess, E Coastal Upwelling, Its Sediment Record—Part B. (1983). Plenum, New York. 399 419.Google Scholar
Dupont, L. M., and Leroy, S. A. G. (1995). Steps toward drier climatic conditions in northwestern Africa during the Upper Pliocene. In Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins Vrba, E. S., Denton, G. H., Partridge, T. C., and Burckle, L. H., Eds., pp. 289–298., Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Dupré, B, Gaillardet, J, Rousseau, D, and Allègre, C.J Major and trace element of river borne material: The Congo Basin. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, (1996). 1301 1321.Google Scholar
Foley, J.A The sensitivity of the terrestrial biosphere to climatic change: A simulation of the middle Holocene. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 8, (1994). 505 525.Google Scholar
Gaillardet, J, Dupré, B, and Allégre, C.J Geochemistry of large river suspended sediments: Silicate chemical weathering or recycling tracers?. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 63, (1999). 4037 4051.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganopolski, A, Kubatzki, C, Claussen, M, Brovkin, V, and Petoukhov, V The influence of vegetation-atmosphere-ocean interaction on the climate during the Mid-Holocene. Science 280, (1998). 1916 1919.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gasse, F Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 189 211.Google Scholar
Gasse, F, Téhet, R, Durand, A, Gibert, E, and Frontes, J.C The arid humid transition in the Sahara and Sahel during last deglacial. Nature 346, (1990). 141 146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grousset, F, Buat-Menard, P, Boust, D, Tian, R.-C, Baudel, S, Pujol, C, and Vergnaud-Grazzini, C Temporal changes of Aeolian Saharan input in the Cape Verde abyssal plain since the last Glacial period. Oceanologica Acta 12, (1989). 177 185.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J, Hays, J.D, Martinson, D.G, McIntyre, A, Mix, A.C, Morley, J.J, Pisias, N.G, Prell, W.L, and Shackleton, N.J The orbital theory of pleistocene climate: Support from a revised chronology of the marine δ18O record. Berger, L.A, Imbrie, J, Hays, J.D, Kukla, J, and Saltzman, J Milankovich and Climate, Part I. (1984). Reidel, Dordrecht. 269 305.Google Scholar
Kolla, V, Biscaye, P.E, and Hanley, A.F Distribution of quartz in late Quaternary Atlantic sediments in relation to climate. Quaternary Research 11, (1979). 261 277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komar, P.D, and Wand, C Processes of selective grain transport and the formation of placers on beaches. Journal of Geology 92, (1984). 637 655.Google Scholar
Konta, J Mineralogy and chemical maturity of suspended matter in major rivers sampled under the SCOPE/UNEP Project. Degens, E.T, Kempe, S, and Herrera, R Transport of Carbon and Minerals in Major World Rivers, Part 3. (1985). Mitteilungen des Geologisch-Paläontologischen Instituts der Universität Hamburg, SCOPE/UNEP S58, Hamburg. 569 592.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E, and Liu, Z Response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing and ocean feedbacks in the middle Holocene. Science 278, (1997). 440 444.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E, Bonan, G, Foley, J, and Harison, S Vegetation and soil feedbacks on the response of the African monsoon to orbital forcing in the early to middle Holocene. Nature 384, (1996). 623 626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leroy, S, and Dupont, L Development of vegetation and continental aridity in northwestern Africa during Late Pliocene: The pollen record of ODP Site 658. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109, (1994). 295 316.Google Scholar
Maley, J The African rain forest vegetation and palaeoenvironments during late Quaternary. Climate Change 19, (1991). 79 98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maley, J, and Brenac, P Vegetation dynamics, palaeoenvironments and climatic changes in the forests of western Cameroon during the last 28,000 years B. P. Reviews in Palaeobotany and Palynology 99, (1998). 157 187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, J.M, and Meybeck, M Elemental mass-balance of material carried by major world rivers. Marine Geology 7, (1979). 173 206.Google Scholar
Martinez, P, Bertrand, P, Shimmield, G.B, Cochrane, K, Jorissen, F.J, Foster, J, and Dignan, M Upwelling intensity and ocean changes off Cape Blanc (northwest Africa) during the last 70,000 years: Geochemical and micropaleontological evidence. Marine Geology 158, (1999). 57 74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthewson, A.P, Shimmield, G.B, Kroon, D, and Fallick, A A 300kyr high-resolution aridity record of the North African continent. Paleoceanography 10, (1995). 677 692.Google Scholar
McIntyre, A, Ruddiman, W.F, Karlin, K, and Mix, A.C Surface water response of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean to orbital forcing. Paleoceanography 4, (1989). 19 55.Google Scholar
Mulitza, S, and Rühlemann, C African monsoonal precipitation modulated by interhemispheric temperature gradients. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 270 274.Google Scholar
Müller, P.J, Erlenkeuser, H, and von Grafenstein, R Glacial-interglacial cycles in ocean productivity inferred from organic carbon contents in eastern North Atlantic sediment cores. Suess, E, and Thiede, J Coastal Upwelling: Its Sediment Record. (1983). Plenum, New York. 365 398.Google Scholar
Orians, K.J, and Bruland, K.W Dissolved aluminium in the central Pacific. Nature 316, (1985). 427 429.Google Scholar
Paillard, D, Labeyrie, L, and Yiou, P Macintosh program performs time-series analysis. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 77, (1996). 379 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkin, D.W, and Shackleton, N.L Trade wind and temperature correlations down a deep-sea core off the Saharan coast. Nature 245, (1973). 455 457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pastouret, L, Chamley, H, Delibrias, G, Duplessy, J.-C, and Thiede, J Late Quaternary climatic changes in western tropical Africa deduced from deep-sea sedimentation off the Niger Delta. Oceanologica Acta 1, (1978). 217 232.Google Scholar
Pokras, E.M, and Mix, A.C Eolian evidence for spatial variability of late Quaternary climates in tropical Africa. Quaternary Research 24, (1985). 137 149.Google Scholar
Pokras, E.M, and Mix, A.C Earth's precession cycle and Quaternary climatic change in tropical Africa. Nature 326, (1987). 287–486.Google Scholar
Porrenga, D.H Clay minerals in recent sediments of the Niger delta. Clays and Clay Minerals 14, (1966). 221 233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prell, W.L, and Kutzbach, J.E Monsoon variability over the past 150,000 years. Journal of Geophysical Research 92, (1987). 8411 8425.Google Scholar
Rea, D.K, and Hovan, S.A Grain size distribution and depositional processes of the mineral component of abyssal sediments: Lessons from the North Pacific. Paleoceanography 10, (1995). 251 258.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F Tropical Atlantic terrigenous fluxes since 25,000 yrs B.P. Marine Geology 136, (1997). 189 207.Google Scholar
Sarnthein, M Sand deserts during glacial maximum and climatic optimum. Nature 271, (1978). 43 46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarnthein, M, Winn, K, Duplessy, J.-C, and Fontugne, M.R Global variations of surface ocean productivity in low and mid latitudes: Influence of CO2 reservoirs of the deep ocean and atmosphere during the last 21,000 years. Paleoceanography 3, (1988). 361 399.Google Scholar
Schneider, R.R, Price, B, Müller, P.J, Kroon, D, and Alexander, I Monsoon related variations in Zaire (Congo) sediment load and influence of fluvial silicate supply on marine productivity in the east equatorial Atlantic during the last 200,000 years. Paleoceanography 12, (1997). 463 481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, M, and Stattegger, K Spectrum: Spectral analysis of unevenly spaced paleoclimatic time series. Computers and Geosciences 23, (1997). 929 945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schutz, L, and Rahn, K.A Trace-element concentrations in erodible soils. Atmospheric Environment 16, (1982). 171 176.Google Scholar
Shimmield, G.B, and Mowbray, S.R The inorganic geochemical record of the northwest Arabian Sea: A history of productivity variation over the last 400 ka from Sites 722 and 724. Proceedings of Ocean Drilling Program Science Results 117, (1991). 409 429.Google Scholar
Street, F.A, and Grove, A.T Environmental and climate implications of late Quaternary lake-level fluctuations in Africa. Nature 261, (1976). 385 390.Google Scholar
Street, F.A, and Grove, A.T Global maps of lake level fluctuations since 30,000 yr B. P. Quaternary Research 12, (1979). 83 118.Google Scholar
Street-Perrott, F.A, and Harrison, S.P Temporal variations in lake levels since 30,000 yr BP—An index of the global hydrological cycle. American Geophysical Union Monograph 29, (1984). 118 129.Google Scholar
Street-Perrott, F.A, and Perrott, R.A Abrupt climate fluctuations in the tropics: The influence of Atlantic Ocean circulation. Nature 343, (1990). 607 612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talbot, M.R, and Johannessen, T A high resolution palaeoclimatic record of the last 27,500 years in tropical West Africa from the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of lacustrine organic matter. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 110, (1992). 23 37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talbot, M.R, Livingstone, P.G, Palmer, G.P, Maley, J, Melack, J.M, Delibrias, G, and Gulliksen, S Preliminary results from sediment cores from Lake Bosumtwi Ghana. Paleoecology of Africa 16, (1984). 173 192.Google Scholar
Verado, D.J, and McIntyre, A Production and destruction: Control of biogenous sedimentation in the tropical Atlantic 0–300,000 years B. P. Paleoceanography 9, (1994). 63 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, T Control of organic carbon accumulation in the late Quaternary Equatorial Atlantic (ODP sites 664, 663): Productivity versus terrigenous supply. Paleoceanography 15, (2000). 181 199.Google Scholar
Wilke, B.M, Duke, B.J, and Jimoh, W.L.O Mineralogy and chemistry of Harmattan dust in northern Nigeria. Catena 11, (1984). 91 96.Google Scholar
Wedepohl, K.H The composition of the continental crust. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59, (1995). 1217 1232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yarincik, K.M, Murray, R.W, and Peterson, L.C Climatically sensitive eolian and hemipelagic deposition in the Cariaco Basin. Venezuela, over the past 578,000 years: Results from Al/Ti and K/Al. Paleoceanography 15, (2000). 210 228.Google Scholar
Zabel, M, Bickert, T, Dittert, L, and Haese, R.R Significance of the sedimentary Al : Ti ratio as an indicator for variations in the circulation patterns of the equatorial North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 14, (1999). 789 799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar