Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:11:32.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Plio-Pleistocene Marine-Continental Correlation using Habitat Indicators from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Kappelman*
Affiliation:
Departments of Anthropology and Geology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 88

Abstract

Reconstructions of Plio-Pleistocene habitats and lake levels from a brief interval (∼200,000 yr) of hominid-bearing sediments from Bed I and lower Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, are for the first time integrated with climatic data from the deep-sea in order to examine the effect of largescale climatic events in East Africa. The period of densely vegetated habitats and wet conditions at Olduval at ∼1.82 myr shows a best fit with a period of northern hemisphere warming as evidenced by oxygen isotopes from deep-sea core V28-239 from the western Pacific. This environmental response is similar to that witnessed in East Africa during the period of warming climates associated with deglaciation at ∼10,000–8,000 yr.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abell, P. I. 1982 Palaeoclimates at Lake Turkana, Kenya, from oxygen isotope ratios of gastropod shells. Nature (London), 297 321323 Google Scholar
Bizon, G. Muller, G. 1978 Remarks of the determination of the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary in the Mediterranean. Hsu, K. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 42 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 847853 No. 1Google Scholar
Bonnefille, R. 1979 Méthode palynologique et reconstitutions paléoclimatiques au Cénozoïque dans le Rift Est Africain. Bulletin de la Société géolgie France (7), 21 3 331342 Google Scholar
Bonnefille, R. Lobreau, D. Riollet, G. 1982 Pollen fossile de Ximenia (Olacaceae) dans le Pléistocène Inférieur d'Olduvai en Tanzanie: implications paléoécologiques. Journal of Biogeography, 9 469486 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnefille, R. Riollet, G. 1980 Palynologie, végétation et climats de Bed I et Bed II à Olduvai, Tanzania. Proceedings, 8th Pan-African Congress of Prehistory and Quaternary Studies TILLIMIAP, Nairobi, 123127 Google Scholar
Bornhold, B. D. 1983 Ice-rafted debris in sediments from Leg 71, southwest Atlantic ocean. Ludwig, W. J. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 71 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 307316 No. 1Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W. Isaac, G. L. Richardson, J. L. Washbourn-Kamau, C. 1972 Radiocarbon dating of East Africa lake levels. Science (Washington, D.C.), 175 10691076 Google Scholar
Cerling, T. E. 1979 Paleochemistry of Plio-Pleistocene Lake Turkana, Kenya. Palaeogeography . Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 27 247285 Google Scholar
Cerling, T. E. Hay, R. L. 1986 An isotopic study of paleosol carbonates from Olduvai Gorge. Quarternary Research, 25 6378 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cerling, T. E. Hay, R. L. O'Neil, J. R. 1977 Isotopic evidence for dramatic climatic changes in East Africa during the Pleistocene. Nature (London), 267 137138 Google Scholar
Ciesielski, P. F. Weaver, F. M. 1983 Neogene and Quaternary paleoenvironmental history of Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 71 sediments, southwest Atlantic Ocean. Ludwig, W. J. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 71 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 461477 No. 1Google Scholar
Clark, J. D. 1957 Proceedings, 3rd Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Chatto and Windus, London Google Scholar
Cooke, H. B. S. 1958 Observations relating to Quaternary environments in east and southern Africa. Geological Society of South Africa, 60 173 [Annexure]Google Scholar
Coppens, Y. Howell, F. C. Isaac, G. L. Leakey, R. E. F. 1976 Earliest Man and Environments in the Lake Rudolf Basin Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago Google Scholar
Dalrymple, G. B. 1979 Critical tables for conversion of K-Ar ages from old to new constants. Geology, 7 558560 Google Scholar
Flint, R. F. 1959 Pleistocene climates in eastern and southern Africa. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 70 343374 Google Scholar
Gasse, F. 1977 Evolution of Lake Abhé (Ethiopia and TFAI), from 70,000 b.p.. Nature (London), 265 4245 Google Scholar
Gaven, C. Hillaire-Marcel, C. Petit-Maire, N. 1981 A Pleistocene lacustrine episode in southeastern Libya. Nature (London), 290 131133 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentry, A. W. Gentry, A. 1978a Fossil Bovidae (Mammalia) of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. I. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geological Series, 29 289446 Google Scholar
Gentry, A. W. Gentry, A. 1978b Fossil Bovidae (Mammalia) of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzánia. II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Geological Series, 30 183 Google Scholar
Gillespie, R. Street-Perrott, F. A. Switsur, R. 1983 Post-glacial arid episodes in Ethiopia have implications for climate prediction. Nature (London), 306 680683 Google Scholar
Greenacre, M. J. Vrba, E. S. 1984 Graphical display and interpretation of antelope census data in African wildlife areas, using correspondence analysis. Ecology, 65 984997 Google Scholar
Grommé, C. S. Hay, R. L. 1971 Geomagnetic polarity epochs: Age and duration of the Olduvai normal polarity event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 10 179185 Google Scholar
Hamilton, N. Hailwood, E. A. Kidd, R. B. 1978 Preliminary paleomagnetic chronology of Cenozoic sediments from DSDP sites 372, 374, and 376 of the Mediterranean Sea. Hsu, K. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 42 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 873880 No. 1Google Scholar
Hastenrath, S. Kutzbach, J. E. 1983 Paleoclimatic estimates from water and energy budgets of East African lakes. Quaternary Research, 19 141153 Google Scholar
Hay, R. L. 1976 Geology of the Olduvai Gorge: A Study of Sedimentation in a Semiarid Basin Univ. of California Press, Berkeley Google Scholar
Isaac, G. L. McCown, E. R. 1976 Human Origins Benjamin, Menlo Park, Calif., Google Scholar
Jaeger, J. J. 1976 Les rongeurs (Mammalia, Rodentia) du Pléistocene inférieur d'Olduvai Bed I (Tanzanie) Ière Partic: les Muridés. Savage, R. J. G. Corydon, S. C. Fossil Vertebrates of Africa, 4 Academic Press, New York/London, 57120 Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. A. Williams, D. F. 1983/1984 Nile water as a cause of eastern Mediterranean sapropel formation: Evidence for and against. Marine Micropaleontology, 9 521534 Google Scholar
Jongsma, D. Fortuin, A. R. Huson, W. Troelstra, S. R. Klaver, G. T. Peters, J. M. van Harten, D. de Lange, G. J. ten Haven, L. 1983 Discovery of an anoxic basin within the Strabo Trench, eastern Mediterranean. Nature (London), 305 795797 Google Scholar
Kappelman, J. 1984 Plio-Pleistocene environments of Bed I and Lower Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 48 171196 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, R. B. Cita, M. B. Ryan, W. B. F. 1978 Stratigraphy of eastern Mediterrancan sapropel sequences recovered during DSDP Leg 42A and their paleoenvironmental significance. Hsu, K. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 42 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 421443 No. 1Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1982 East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Vol. 3 Academic Press, New York/London Part C “Bovids”Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J. E. 1981 Monsoon climate of the early Holocene: Climate experiment with the Earth's orbital parameters for 9000 years ago. Science (Washington, D.C.), 214 5961 Google Scholar
de Lange, J. ten Haven, H. L. 1983 Recent sapropel formation in the eastern Mediterranean. Nature (London), 305 797798 Google Scholar
Leakey, L. S. B. 1952 Proceedings, 1st Pan-African Congress on Prehistory Nairobi, 1947 Blackwell, Oxford Google Scholar
Leakey, L. S. B. 1965 Olduvai Gorge, 1951–1961, Vol. 1 Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge “A Preliminary Report on the Geology and Fauna”Google Scholar
Leakey, M. D. 1971 Olduvai Gorge, Vol. 3 Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge “Excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963”Google Scholar
Leakey, M. D. Hay, R. L. 1983 The chronological position of the fossil hominids of Tanzania. Congrès Internatinal de Paleontologie Humaine. 1er Congrès. L'Homo erectus et la place de l'Homme de Tautavel parmi les hominidés fossiles 753765 NiceGoogle Scholar
McDougall, I. 1981 40Ar/39Ar age spectra from the KBS tuff, Koobi Fora formation. Nature (London), 294 120124 Google Scholar
McDougall, I. Mair, R. Sutherland-Hawkes, P. Gleadow, A. J. W. 1980 K-Ar age estimate for the KBS tuff, East Turkana, Kenya. Nature (London), 284 230234 Google Scholar
Mankinen, E. A. Dalrymple, G. B. 1979 Revised geomagnetic polarity time scale for the interval 0–5 m.y.B.P.. Journal of Geophysical Research, 84 B2 615626 Google Scholar
Owen, R. B. Barthelme, J. W. Renaut, R. W. Vincens, A. 1982 Palaeolimnology and archaeology of Holocene deposits north-east of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Nature (London), 298 523529 Google Scholar
Rossignol-Strick, M. 1983 African monsoons, an immediate climate response to orbital insolation. Nature (London), 303 4649 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossignol-Strick, M. Nesteroff, W. Olive, P. Vergnaud-Grazzini, C. 1982 After the deluge: Mediterranean stagnation and sapropel formation. Nature (London), 295 105110 Google Scholar
Shackleton, N. J. Backman, J. Zimmerman, H. Kent, D. V. Hall, M. A. Roberts, D. G. Schnitker, D. Baldauf, J. G. Desprairies, A. Homrighausen, R. Huddlestun, P. Keene, J. B. Kaltenback, A. J. Krumsiek, K. A. O. Morton, A. C. Murray, J. W. Westberg-Smith, J. 1984 Oxygen isotope calibration of the onset of ice-rafting and history of glaciation in the North Atlantic region. Nature (London), 307 620623 Google Scholar
Shackleton, N. J. Opdyke, N. D. 1973 Oxygen isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperature and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale. Quaternary Research, 3 3955 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N. J. Opdyke, N. D. 1976 Oxygen-isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of Pacific core V28-239 Late Pliocene to Latest Pleistocene. Geological Society of America Memoir, 145 449464 Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. Rohlf, F. J. 1981 Biometry 2nd ed. Freeman, San Francisco Google Scholar
Street, F. A. Grove, A. T. 1976 Environmental and climatic implications of late Quaternary lake-level fluctuations in Africa. Nature (London), 261 385390 Google Scholar
Street, F. A. Grove, A. T. 1979 Global maps of lake-level fluctuations since 30,000 B.P.. Quaternary Research, 12 83118 Google Scholar
Tauxe, L. Opdyke, N. D. Pasini, G. Elmi, C. 1983 Age of the Plio-Pleistocene boundary in the Vrica section, southern Italy. Nature (London), 304 125129 Google Scholar
Vergnaud-Grazzini, C. Ryan, W. B. F. Cita, M. B. 1977 Stable isotopic fractionation, climate change and episodic stagnation in the eastern Mediterranean during the late Quaternary. Marine Micropaleontology, 2 353370 Google Scholar
Vrba, E. S. 1980 The significance of bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns. Behrensmeyer, A. K. Hill, A. P. Fossils in the Making Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 247271 Google Scholar