Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Castaneda IS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2776605 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa.
Castañeda Isla S IS Mulitza Stefan S Schefuss Enno E Lopes dos Santos Raquel A RA Sinninghe Damsté Jaap S JS Schouten Stefan S
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20091112 48
The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes (a proxy for C(3) vs. C(4) vegetation) in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained C(3) plants (likely trees), indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. Our data suggest that variability in the strength of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a main co ...[more]
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