Open AccessPaleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans
Author(s) -
Stefanie KabothBahr,
William D. Gosling,
Ralf Vogelsang,
André Bahr,
Eleanor M. L. Scerri,
Asfawossen Asrat,
Andrew S. Cohen,
Walter Düsing,
Verena Foerster,
Henry F. Lamb,
Mark Maslin,
Helen M. Roberts,
Frank Schäbitz,
Martin H. Trauth
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2018277118
Subject(s) - interglacial , climatology , climate change , glacial period , el niño southern oscillation , insolation , geography , low latitude , latitude , tropical climate , oceanography , environmental science , geology , geomorphology , archaeology , geodesy
Significance Our results identify the prime driver of climate variation in Africa’s low latitudes over the past 620 ky—the key time frame for the evolution of our species. Warming and cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean paced by insolation changes modulated the tropical Walker circulation, driving opposing wet–dry states in eastern and western Africa. We show that the effects of glacial/interglacial cycles were not the predominant source of environmental change in most of the continent. Africa’s environmental patchwork driven by low-latitude climate processes should therefore be a critical component in conceptual models of human evolution and early demography over the past 620 ky.
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