The Chew Bahir basin (CHB), located in the southern Ethiopian Rift, provides a unique natural archive offering critical insights into the interactions of climate, tectonics, ecosystems, and human activities during the Pleistocene. This project builds on prior successes, such as the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), and extends exploration to unprecedented depths to address innovative, transdisciplinary research questions. The CHB’s sedimentary fill, spanning several kilometres, preserves a high-resolution fluviolacustrine record of environmental and biogeographic history. By drilling to a depth of 1,200 m—well beyond the ~300 m explored in previous cores—this project aims to access the base of the Quaternary, enabling detailed reconstructions of the region’s climatic, ecological, and anthropogenic evolution.

KEYWORDS: Africa, Ethiopia, Chew Bahir Basin, Climate Change Quantification, Terra-Forming, Freshwater Ecosystem