A Pleistocene lacustrine episode in southeastern Libya

Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa

“…2), and thus wetter conditions in the Sahara region, supporting the hypothesis that the Sahara could have provided a dispersal route out of Africa (24). Our interpretation is supported by other paleoclimate evidence and climate models suggesting a significant expansion of wetter conditions in the Sahara from 130 to 120 ka (24)(25)(26)(27)(28). When the S5 sapropel was deposited in the Mediterranean Sea (Ϸ124-119 ka), fossil rivers in the Libyan and Chad basins of North Africa were active and provided northward drainage routes for precipitation delivered to central Saharan mountain ranges (28).…”

A reconstruction of Quaternary pluvial environments and human occupations using stratigraphy and geochronology of fossil‐spring tufas, Kharga Oasis, Egypt

“…Quaternary fluvial, lacustrine, and aeolian deposits throughout North Africa provide a record of climatic oscillation between arid conditions similar to the present and significantly more humid conditions (Gaven et al, 1981;Fontes et al, 1983;Petit-Maire, 1989;Szabo et al, 1995;Cremaschi and Trombino, 1998). The abundant artifacts associated with the fluvio-lacustrine deposits indicate that pluvial phases in the Sahara were accompanied by human/hominid occupation (Caton-Thompson, 1952;Petit-Maire, 1993;Wendorf et al, 1993;Haynes et al, 1997;Churcher and Mills, 1999).…”

Ages of Quaternary pluvial episodes determined by uranium-series and radiocarbon dating of lacustrine deposits of Eastern Sahara

“…In North Africa, the major humid intervals occurred at 140-1 18 and 12-2 ka and they also found evidence for increased humidity at about 103, 80, and 47 ka. Uranium-series dating of shells from lacustrine deposits in northern Sahara indicates that one or probably two humid episodes occurred between about 150 and 75 ka (Gaven et al, 1981;Causse et al, 1988;Causse et al, 1989;Fontes and Gasse, 199 1 ).…”