Geological Society of America

T36 Oceans and Climates throughout Earth’s History: From Proxy Reconstructions to Model Assessments (Posters)

Sunday, 22 September 2019
9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Hall AB, North Building

INVESTIGATING PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE DURING THE HOLOCENE USING A STALAGMITE FROM MATUPI CAVE, EQUATORIAL AFRICA

Paper number: T36-33
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Laura Dupont Presenting Author
University of Georgia Geology, Athens, GA
Laura Dupont Presenting Author
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
L. Bruce Railsback
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
George A. Brook
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Fuyuan Liang
Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL
Hai Cheng
Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an
Lawrence Edwards
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Abstract

Carbon and oxygen stable isotope analysis and petrographical surface analysis of U-Th dated Stalagmite MAT-12 from Matupi Cave in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo provides a reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental effects of the African Humid Period (AHP) in eastern equatorial Africa during the Holocene. Preliminary results obtained from this study, coupled with a high-resolution U-Th age model, reveal the local response to the AHP, a well-documented climate event of the late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene, ca. 14.8 to 5.5 cal. ka BP. During the AHP, much of north, central, and east Africa was wetter than the present. Though various proxy records have demonstrated the orbitally-forced, pluvial nature of the AHP, the spatial and temporal patterns of AHP onset, intensity, and termination have been subject to intense debate. This additional record in eastern equatorial Africa serves as a paleoenvironmental reconstruction highlighting the local effects of the AHP, particularly changes in vegetation and rainfall patterns near Matupi Cave while Stalagmite MAT-12 was deposited.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 5

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019AM-336847

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