HR: 0800h
AN: GC31A-0114 [WITHDRAWN]    [Abstracts]
TI: Holocene Paleoecology of the Western Tenere Desert, Niger, Africa
AU: Sereno, P C
EM: dinosaur@uchicago.edu
AF: University of Chicago, 1027 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, United States
AU: * Caran, S C
EM: ccaran@swbell.net
AF: Quaternary Analysis Laboratories, 3202 Spaniel Drive, Austin, TX 78759, United States
AU: Housh, T B
EM: housh@mail.utexas.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, C1100, Austin, TX 78712, United States
AB: Multiple paleontological, sedimentological, and isotopic/ionic geochemical indicators permit reconstruction of the Holocene ecology of the western Tenere Desert (southern Sahara hyper-desert). Modern precipitation is highly erratic, averaging 25 mm yearly, and vegetative cover is negligible. From the early to middle Holocene, however, grassland-shrublands and seasonal to permanent lakes and wetlands predominated, supporting diverse limnic, riparian, and upland communities. Annual precipitation probably was comparable to that of the modern southern Sahel, exceeding 350 mm. Coarse-grained sediment washed into the large lacustrine basin from exposures of metamorphic, plutonic, and volcanic rocks in the nearby Air Massif highland. Lake margins fluctuated in response to runoff and limited ground-water discharge. The water was non-saline and there is no evidence of evaporite deposition. Aquatic and riparian macrophytes thrived, as did an extensive lacustrine-palustrine macrofauna. A Sahelian flora of mixed grasses, thorn shrubs, and perhaps some larger woodland species occupied the contiguous uplands, supporting resident and migratory mammalian and avian faunas. Lake levels were high until 6300 to 5200 BP, possibly as late as 4800 BP locally. Deflation of lacustrine deposits during a subsequent dry period provided finer-grained eolian sediment accreting as proximal dunes. The composition of mineral sediment within the middle to late Holocene dunes is different from, but clearly a subset of the lacustrine deposits. Organic matter reworked from the lake sediment was deposited in the dunes and oxidized in situ, generating CO2 that dissolved in soil moisture, producing bicarbonate. The bicarbonate reacted with calcium from weathered minerals, producing calcic cementation about 5100 BP. The resulting petrocalcic horizon was later exposed, weathered, and colonized by sparse terrestrial vegetation for one or more brief periods. A late phase of pedogenesis concurrent with or closely post-dating plant colonization produced secondary porosity and metallic oxide cementation. The metallic oxide cement preserved minute quantities of organic matter from the terrestrial flora and invertebrate microfauna. Regional ecology was controlled by global post-Pleistocene deglaciation, sea-level changes, and establishment of zonal weather systems. The modern Okavango Delta of Botswana is, in part, a suitable analog for the late Pleistocene to early/middle Holocene environment of the western Tenere Desert, as are smaller, lesser-known, extant wetlands in Niger.
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1625 Geomorphology and weathering (0790, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1886)
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
DE: 1637 Regional climate change
SC: Global Environmental Change [GC]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting