The context of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa

Knight, Jasper; Grab, Stefan

doi:10.1017/cbo9781107295483.001

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Over the last 66 Ma, the southern African landscape has been shaped by tectonics, climate and geomorphic processes (Knight and Grab, 2016a) although feedbacks produced by tectonics and climate are often difficult to isolate (Knight and Grab, 2016b). Periods of uplift and associated increased erosion in southern Africa include during the late Cretaceous (de Wit, 1999;Stevenson and McMillan, 2004;Richardson et al, 2017), the Miocene and the Pliocene (Partridge and Maud, 2000;Green et al, 2017).…”

Section: Regional Geomorphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term controls on continental-scale bedrock river terrace deposition from integrated clast and heavy mineral assemblage analysis: An example from the lower Orange River, Namibia

Nakashole

Hodgson

Chapman

et al. 2018

Sedimentary Geology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Regional Geomorphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term controls on continental-scale bedrock river terrace deposition from integrated clast and heavy mineral assemblage analysis: An example from the lower Orange River, Namibia

Nakashole

Hodgson

Chapman

et al. 2018

Sedimentary Geology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The rst wetlands date back to the Silurian Period, being environments where many ora and fauna species had to adapt and therefore being importante for the evolution of life on Earth 16 . Wetlands continue to decline globally, both in area and in quality, and are sensitive to environmental and climatic changes over decadal to millennial timescales 21 . Wetlands contribute to water puri cation, ood control, and food production, both land-and water-based, and the maintenance of high levels of biodiversity and ecosystemic relevance to society 51 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Young is a 300-Year-Old Wetland? The Case of the Pantanal Marimbus, Chapada Diamantina, Brazil

Lima

Macario

Costa

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Chapada Diamantina, in Northeastern Brazil, is one of the few places where one can find drylands with a backswamp containing hundreds of dead deciduous trees in the floodplain. During the 18th century, the region was globally important due to the exploration of mineral resources. The death of these trees was caused by mining activities that silted the main river, leading to the impoundment of the tributary river, and resulting in a wetland known as Pantanal Marimbus, having as indicators: (i) backswamp morphological feature that remains permanently flooded in the axis of the fluvial course, and (ii) alluvial fans concentrated in one footslope area where mining activities at the Chapada Diamantina were also concentrated. The hydrological and sedimentological behavior was investigated to multi-methods. By analysing four different samples from the bark and core of the same tree, we obtained calibrated radiocarbon dates within the 18th century. For no robust dendrochronology could be performed, a simple sequence model was built, revealing a high probability that the tree lived until approximately 1700 AD. 14C-AMS measured pioneering possible to evaluate the 300-years-old wetlands juvenile evolutionary state.

show abstract

A proposed chronostratigraphic framework for the late Quaternary of southern Africa

Knight

Fitchett

2021

South African Journal of Geology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The principles of chronostratigraphy can inform the process of correlation between different palaeoclimate records, enabling the coherence of spatial and temporal patterns of past climates and environments to be identified based on the physical, chemical, biological and isotopic properties of individual depositional units. This study presents a chronostratigraphic framework for the late Quaternary of southern Africa, based on the integration of palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental proxy data from key records across the country from the start of Marine Isotope Stage 6 (~191 ka BP) to present. The methodology adopted in this study involves, first, wiggle-matching between sufficiently long and continuous records from different regions across southern Africa, informed by radiometric age controls from individual records. Based on interpretive limitations of these records, we then integrate different geomorphic and archaeological data types in proposing successive chronostratigraphic time periods that collectively extend through the late Quaternary of southern Africa. These time periods correspond to phases in which, within them, a certain set of (relative) stable climates or environments existed in different regions of southern Africa, as recorded in different ways in different proxy records. The boundaries between successive time periods are identified where there is evidence for a significant change in the workings of the climate or environmental system as reflected in the preserved proxy record found in a certain locality. These chronostratigraphic units are interpreted as reflecting the impacts of external forcing that is of regional extent, synchronous, and are not merely an outcome of local environmental variability. These chronostratigraphic phases identified for the late Quaternary period also correspond to distinctive technological and cultural phases in the southern African archaeological record, demonstrating links between coeval climate and environmental change and phases of human evolutionary development. This chronostratigraphic approach provides both a correlative framework for understanding the varied late Quaternary records of southern Africa, and a testable hypothesis for considering the synchroneity or otherwise of different records and thus their associated forcing factors.

show abstract

The context of Quaternary environmental change in southern Africa

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

Long-term controls on continental-scale bedrock river terrace deposition from integrated clast and heavy mineral assemblage analysis: An example from the lower Orange River, Namibia

Long-term controls on continental-scale bedrock river terrace deposition from integrated clast and heavy mineral assemblage analysis: An example from the lower Orange River, Namibia

How Young is a 300-Year-Old Wetland? The Case of the Pantanal Marimbus, Chapada Diamantina, Brazil

A proposed chronostratigraphic framework for the late Quaternary of southern Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About