Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:51:42.752Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleoenvironmental Changes during the Last 4000 yr in the Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Maria J. Machado ,
Alfredo Pérez-González  and
Gerardo Benito
Maria J. Machado
Affiliation:
Centro de Ciencias Medioambientales, CSIC, Serrano 115 bis, 28006, Madrid, Spain
Alfredo Pérez-González
Affiliation:
Facultad de Geologı́a, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Gerardo Benito
Affiliation:
Centro de Ciencias Medioambientales, CSIC, Serrano 115 bis, 28006, Madrid, Spain
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the Tigray region at the northern Ethiopian Highlands, paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on several infilled valley deposit sequences suggests that the past 4000 yr comprised three major wetter periods (ca. 4000–3500 yr B.P., 2500–1500 yr B.P., and 1000–960 yr B.P.), during which soils were formed, and two degradation episodes (ca. 3500–2500 yr B.P. and 1500–1000 yr B.P.), during which there was an increase of sediment yield from the slopes into the valleys. For the past 1000 yr, and in particular since the early 17th century, stratigraphic records together with historic chronicles suggest increasing aridity. Although difficulties arise in distinguishing between natural and human impacts, particularly in a region with a long established agricultural background, stratigraphical and proxy paleoclimatic data have indicated climate as the main controlling factor responsible for the environmental changes in the Tigray.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , May 1998 , pp. 312 - 321
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

Abbel, P.I., Williams, M.A.J., 1989. Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in gastropod shells as indicators of paleoenvironments in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology. 74 265–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvares, F., 1889. Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias. INL, Lisbon. Google Scholar
Blokhuis, W.A., 1993. Vertisoils in the Central Clay Plain of the Sudan. Wageningen Agricultural Univ, Wageningen. Google Scholar
Butzer, K. W, 1971, Recent history of an Ethiopian delta.Google Scholar
Butzer, K.W., 1980. Pleistocene history of the Nile valley in Egypt and Lower Nubia. The Sahara and the Nile. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, p. 253–280.Google Scholar
Butzer, K.W., 1981. Rise and fall of Axum, Ethiopia: A geo-archaeological interpretation. American Antiquity. 46 471–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chernet, T, 1988, Hydrological Map of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Mapping Agency, Addis Ababa. Google Scholar
Contenson, H., 1959. Les fouilles à Axoum en 1957. Rapport préliminaire. Annales d'Ethiopie. 3 25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamachu, D., 1977. Aspects of Climate and Water Budget in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa Univ. Press, Addis Ababa. Google Scholar
Gasse, F., 1977. Evolution of Lake Abhé (Ethiopia and TFAI), from 70,000 B.P. Nature. 265 42–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasse, F., Fontes, J.C., Rognon, P., 1974. Variations hydrologiques et expansion des lacs Holocenes du desert Danakil. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology. 15 109–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gasse, F., Rognon, P., Street, F.A., 1980. Quaternary history of the Afar and Ethiopian Rift lakes. Williams, M.A., Faure, H., The Sahara and the Nile. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 361–400.Google Scholar
Griffiths, J.F., 1972. Ethiopian Highlands. Griffiths, J.F., World Survey of Climatology: Climates of Africa. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 369–388.Google Scholar
Halfman, J.D., Johnson, T.C., Finney, B.P., 1994. New AMS dates, stratigraphic correlations and decadal climatic cycles for the past 4 Ka at Lake Turkana, Kenya. Palaeogreography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology. 111 83–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassan, F.A., 1981. Historical Nile floods and their implications for climatic change. Science. 212 1142–1144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Machado, M.J., Pérez-González, A., Benito, G., 1995. Reconstrucción de ambientes naturales y antrópicos en la región de Axum (Tigray, Norte de Etiopı́a). Aleixandre, T., Pérez-González, A., Reconstrucción de Paleoambientes y Cambios Climáticos durante el Cuaternario. CSIC, Madrid, 163–174.Google Scholar
Mohamed, M.U., Bonnefille, R., Johnson, T.C., 1995. Pollen and isotopic records in late Holocene sediments from Lake Turkana, Kenya. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatoogy Palaeoecology. 119 371–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohr, P.A., 1962. The Geology of Ethiopia. Univ. College of Addis Ababa Press, Addis Ababa. Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E., 1980. Saharan climates in historic times. Williams, M.A.J., Faure, H., The Sahara and the Nile. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 173–200.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E., 1985. The historical climatology of Africa. Wigley, T.M.L., Ingram, M.J., Farmer, G., Climate and History: Studies in Past Climates and Their Impact on Man. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 249–270.Google Scholar
Pankhurst, R., 1985. The History of Famine and Epidemics in Ethiopia Prior to the Twentieth Century. Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, Addis Ababa. Google Scholar
Said, R., 1993. The Nile River. Geology, Hydrology and Utilization. Pergamon Press, Oxford. Google Scholar
Semmel, A., 1971. Zur junquartären klima und Reliefentwicklung in der Danakilwüste und ihren westlichen Randgebieten. Erdkunde. 25 199–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.I., 1993. Extended14 . Radiocarbon. 35 215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, J.E.G., 1989. The history and chronology. Munro-Hay, S.C., Excavations at Aksum: Memoirs of the British Institute in Eastern Africa. Royal Geographical Society, London, 7–26.Google Scholar
Webb, P., von Braun, J., 1994. Famine and Food Security in Ethiopia: Lessons for Africa. Wiley, Chichester. Google Scholar
Wilding, R.F., 1989. The pottery. Munro-Hay, S.C., Excavations at Aksum. Memoirs of the British Institute in Eastern Africa. Royal Geographical Society, London, 235–316.Google Scholar
Williams, M.A.J., Bishop, P.M., Dakin, F.M., 1977. Late Quaternary lake levels in southern Afar and the adjacent Ethiopian Rift. Nature. 267 690–693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar