This file was created by the TYPO3 extension publications --- Timezone: CEST Creation date: 2026-04-21 Creation time: 12:55:29 --- Number of references 61 article Ataee2025 Article 2025 10.1016/j.quageo.2025.101676 Quaternary Geochronology 88 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105004429606&doi=10.1016%2fj.quageo.2025.101676&partnerID=40&md5=b950d7816212e6d132aaf71c0b0def98 Cited by: 0; All Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Nina Ataee Helen M. Roberts Geoff A.T. Duller article 10.12688/openreseurope.20266.1 2025 10.12688/openreseurope.20266.1 Open Research Europe 5 177 MJ Sier BR Spiering MJ Dekkers FJ Hilgen article Owen2025 Article 2025 10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.112790 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 665 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85218457197&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2025.112790&partnerID=40&md5=93a17f317990d68b6e8e1534225cfa6e Cited by: 1 R. Bernhart Owen Robin W. Renaut Tim K. Lowenstein Mona Stockhecke Nathan Rabideaux Kennie Leet Andrew S. Cohen Jennifer J. Scott Veronica Muiruri article Collins20253931 Article 2025 10.5194/bg-22-3931-2025 Biogeosciences 22 3931 – 3948 15 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-105013248373&doi=10.5194%2fbg-22-3931-2025&partnerID=40&md5=d155856489454fab7d29eecee9770947 Cited by: 0 Evan R. Collins Troy M. Ferland Isla S. Castañeda R. Bernhart Owen Tim K. Lowenstein Andrew S. Cohen Robin W. Renaut Molly D. O’Beirne Josef P. Werne article Trauth2024 The directly dated RRMarch2021 age model (Roberts et al., 2021) for the ∼293 m long composite core from Chew Bahir, southern Ethiopia, has provided a valuable chronology for long-term climate changes in northeastern Africa. However, the age model has limitations on shorter time scales (less than 1–2 precession cycles), especially in the time range <20 kyr BP (kiloyears before present or thousand years before 1950) and between ∼155 and 428 kyr BP. To address those constraints we developed a partially orbitally tuned age model. A comparison with the ODP Site 967 record of the wetness index from the eastern Mediterranean, 3300 km away but connected to the Ethiopian plateau via the River Nile, suggests that the partially orbitally tuned age model offers some advantages compared to the exclusively directly dated age model, with the limitation of the reduced significance of (cross) spectral analysis results of tuned age models in cause-effect studies. The availability of this more detailed age model is a prerequisite for further detailed spatiotemporal correlations of climate variability and its potential impact on the exchange of different populations of Homo sapiens in the region. © 2024 The Authors Article 2024 10.1016/j.qsa.2024.100208 Quaternary Science Advances 15 Elsevier Ltd https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85197024154&doi=10.1016%2fj.qsa.2024.100208&partnerID=40&md5=94d0360430dd64038edb7385859abd3a Cited by: 0; All Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Martin H. Trauth Asfawossen Asrat Markus L. Fischer Verena Foerster Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Henry F. Lamb Norbert Marwan Helen M. Roberts Frank Schaebitz article Owen2024 The South Kenya Rift is comprised of a series of N-S-oriented grabens with sediments that preserve an approximate one-million-year environmental history that reflects the interplay of climate, tectonism and volcanism. This study attempts to disentangle the relative roles of these major controls by comparing the geochemical records preserved in three sedimentary basins. The study focuses on the Koora Basin using bulk geochemical data in a 139-m-long core. This record is then compared with geochemical data and environmental histories from a 196-m-long core at Magadi and outcrops in the Olorgesailie Basin. Four climatic phases (1000–850; 850–470; 470–400; 400–0 ka) are recognised at Koora, which can also be distinguished in the Magadi and Olorgesailie Basins. However, inter-basin contrasts also suggest that additional, non-climatic factors influenced these geochemical histories, particularly during four intervals. These include 1) the Magadi Transition (MT; ∼770–700 ka), 2) the Magadi Tectonic Event (MTE; ∼540 ka), 3) the Koora Instability Period (KIP; ∼325–180 ka), and 4) the Trona Precipitation Period (TPP; ∼105–0 ka). Prior to the MT, Zr/TiO2, La/Lu, Mo, As, V and Na/Ca in Magadi and Koora cores were similar but afterwards diverged. Major reductions in transition metals at Magadi during the MTE reflect tectonically-induced cross-rift drainage diversion. This contrasts with the Koora and Olorgesailie basins where these metals were constant from ∼1000 to 300 ka. The KIP represents a significant increase in volcanic inputs to the Koora Basin and increased geochemical variability. Bromine (Br), which reflects peralkaline volcanic activity and/or evaporative concentration, is elevated during the KIP at Koora but is below detection limits in the rest of the Koora core. Br in the Magadi core does not correlate with that in the Koora record, suggesting contrasting accumulation processes. The TPP represents a phase of trona precipitation at Magadi but not at Koora. This difference partly reflects increased magmatic CO2 rising along faults in the Magadi basin during a period of increasing aridity. Rare-earth element patterns indicate a major change at Magadi with many anomalies after about 325 ka to the present, caused by the development of hypersaline waters, which did not occur at Koora or Olorgesailie. The geochemical data from the three basins help to partially separate climatic controls from those related to volcanism, tectonism and local geomorphology. © 2023 Article 2024 10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111986 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 637 Elsevier B.V. East African Rift; Kenya; Kenya Rift; environmental history; geochemistry; mineralogy; paleolimnology; Quaternary; volcanism; volcanology https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85181115776&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2023.111986&partnerID=40&md5=ffddec60e6a74cadaacc58fea70b1f09 Cited by: 1 R. Bernhart Owen Nathan Rabideaux Jordon Bright Carolina Rosca Robin W. Renaut Richard Potts Anna K. Behrensmeyer Alan L. Deino Andrew S. Cohen Veronica Muiruri René Dommain article Trauth2024 Article 2024 10.1038/s41467-024-47921-1 Nature Communications 15 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85192235913&doi=10.1038%2fs41467-024-47921-1&partnerID=40&md5=e34d4275002ef654cfe951967b01386b Cited by: 5; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Martin H. Trauth Asfawossen Asrat Markus L. Fischer Peter O. Hopcroft Verena Foerster Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Karin Kindermann Henry F. Lamb Norbert Marwan Mark A. Maslin Frank Schaebitz Paul J. Valdes article Fischer2024 Eastern Africa and Arabia were major hominin hotspots and critical crossroads for migrating towards Asia during the late Pleistocene. To decipher the role of spatiotemporal environmental change on human occupation and migration patterns, we remeasured the marine core from Meteor Site KL 15 in the Gulf of Aden and reanalyzed its data together with the aridity index from ICDP Site Chew Bahir in eastern Africa and the wet-dry index from ODP Site 967 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea using linear and nonlinear time series analysis. These analyses show major changes in the spatiotemporal paleoclimate dynamics at 400 and 150 ka BP (thousand years before 1950), presumably driven by changes in the amplitude of the orbital eccentricity. From 400 to 150 ka BP, eastern Africa and Arabia show synchronized wet-dry shifts, which changed drastically at 150 ka BP. After 150 ka BP, an overall trend to dry climate states is observable, and the hydroclimate dynamics between eastern Africa and Arabia are negatively correlated. Those spatio-temporal variations and interrelationships of climate potentially influenced the availability of spatial links for human expansion along those vertices. We observe positively correlated network links during the supposed out-of-Africa migration phases of H. sapiens. Furthermore, our data do not suggest hominin occupation phases during specific time intervals of humid or stable climates but provide evidence of the so far underestimated potential role of climate predictability as an important factor of hominin ecological competitiveness. © 2024 The Authors Article 2024 10.1016/j.qsa.2024.100174 Quaternary Science Advances 14 Elsevier Ltd https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85188696294&doi=10.1016%2fj.qsa.2024.100174&partnerID=40&md5=2b87a7d9c02be9c2e22ab24426d61b17 Cited by: 2; All Open Access, Gold Open Access Markus L. Fischer Philipp M. Munz Asfawossen Asrat Verena Foerster Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Norbert Marwan Frank Schaebitz Wolfgang Schwanghart Martin H. Trauth article RN96 Article 2024 10.1038/s41467-024-47921-1 Nat Commun 15 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38714681 M. H. Trauth A. Asrat M. L. Fischer P. O. Hopcroft V. Foerster S. Kaboth-Bahr K. Kindermann H. F. Lamb N. Marwan M. A. Maslin F. Schaebitz P. J. Valdes article WOS:001053792900001 2023 10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118189 EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS 614 rifting; East Africa; Afar Stratoid Series; magmatism Tyrone O. Rooney Eric L. Brown Ian D. Bastow J. Ramón Arrowsmith Christopher J. Campisano article McHenry202396 The eastern branch of the East African Rift System hosts many shallow modern lakes and paleolakes, which can be sensitive recorders of changing climate conditions (complicated by tectonics) during the past few million years. However, many of such lakes are saline–alkaline (salty and high pH), and these conditions do not easily preserve pollen and other biologically derived paleoclimate indicators. Fortunately, some preserved minerals that formed in these extreme environments reflect subtle shifts in lake water chemistry (controlled by changes in climate conditions) and therefore provide a continuous record of local and regional climate change. We present two different mineral proxies (zeolites and clays) from two different paleolake basins (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and Chew Bahir, Ethiopia) as examples. © 2023 Mineralogical Society of America. All rights reserved. Article 2023 10.2138/gselements.19.2.96 Elements 19 Mineralogical Society of America 96 – 103 2 East African Rift; Alkalinity; Climate change; Lakes; Zeolites; Alkalines; Changing climate; Climate; Climate condition; Condition; East African Rift; Eastern Africa; High pH; Paleolake; Rift systems; clay mineral; climate change; lake water; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; water chemistry; zeolite; Clay minerals https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85164968949&doi=10.2138%2fgselements.19.2.96&partnerID=40&md5=3a96dc4973c0abbcc950c54c8170ad80 Cited by: 2 Lindsay J. McHenry Verena Foerster Daniel Gebregiorgis article Cohen2023 Article 2023 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108284 Quaternary Science Reviews 317 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85169614588&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2023.108284&partnerID=40&md5=1e22ea569972b7c69f374e184bb4fc8b Cited by: 3; All Open Access, Green Open Access Andrew S. Cohen Julia Manobianco David L. Dettman Bryan A. Black Catherine Beck Craig S. Feibel Josephine C. Joordens Bert Van Bocxlaer Hubert Vonhof article Cohen2022451 Review 2022 10.1146/annurev-earth-031920-081947 Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 50 451 – 476 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85128712352&doi=10.1146%2fannurev-earth-031920-081947&partnerID=40&md5=90ef154d59093a09e28aa29a9a3cf030 Cited by: 10; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access Andrew S. Cohen Christopher J. Campisano J. Ramo acute n Arrowsmith Asfawossen Asrat Catherine C. Beck Anna K. Behrensmeyer Alan L. Deino Craig S. Feibel Verena Foerster John D. Kingston Henry F. Lamb Tim K. Lowenstein Rachel L. Lupien Veronica Muiruri Daniel O. Olago R. Bernhart Owen Richard Potts James M. Russell Frank Schaebitz Jeffery R. Stone Martin H. Trauth Chad L. Yost article Zawacki2022 Detrital zircons from two major rift basins within the East African Rift System (EARS) provide a means to evaluate not only sediment provenance and landscape dynamics in sedimentary basins, but also the timing of the silicic volcano-tectonic evolution of the rift system. We sampled from drill cores collected by the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) in Ethiopia and Kenya to study the detrital mineral records of the Northern Awash (NA; 3.3–2.9 Ma) and West Turkana (WTK; 1.9–1.4 Ma) drill cores. We performed (U-Th)/He and U/Pb analyses on detrital zircons using single crystal laser ablation double dating (LADD) techniques. Analyses of four NA samples yielded zircon 206Pb/238U dates younger than ∼45 Ma, consistent with derivation from silicic volcanic rocks associated with EARS activity. Most of these samples lack zircon 206Pb/238U dates from ∼22–13 Ma, due to a decrease in silicic volcanism and a watershed configuration limiting delivery of silicic source materials to the sample site. NA zircon 206Pb/238U dates imply a sedimentary source from the western Afar margin, with a transition to more localized sediment reworking within the Afar Depression after a major regional tectonic reorganization and formation of a disconformity at ∼2.9 Ma. The WTK sample yielded many zircons with Cenozoic 206Pb/238U dates similar to those from the NA core, but the WTK sample also sources a small population of Neoproterozoic zircons associated with rocks from the Mozambique Belt and reworked sedimentary deposits. Despite being recorders of predominantly silicic activity, the detrital zircon U/Pb dates from both drill sites track the established timing of major volcanic phases in the EARS. A subset of zircons from both sites has concordant 206Pb/238U and (U-Th)/He dates, indicating a short duration between zircon crystallization and eruption of the host volcanic rock, but the majority of zircon (U-Th)/He dates are significantly younger than the 206Pb/238U dates for the same zircon. Some (U-Th)/He dates are even younger than the depositional age of the sedimentary sample from which it was collected. The observed spread in zircon (U-Th)/He dates likely reflects partial resetting associated with late mafic volcanism and/or hydrothermal activity within this dynamic rift environment. © 2022 Elsevier B.V. Article 2022 English 0012821X 10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117375 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 580 Elsevier B.V. East African Rift; Clay alteration; Core drilling; Drills; Infill drilling; Sedimentary rocks; Sedimentology; Single crystals; Tectonics; Volcanic rocks; Volcanoes; Zircon; Detrital zircon; Double dating; Drill core; East African Rift; Hydrothermal alterations; Laser ablation double dating; Lasers ablations; Rift systems; Sediment provenance; Tectonic evolution; dating method; detrital deposit; helium isotope; hydrothermal alteration; provenance; sediment analysis; tectonic evolution; uranium series dating; uranium-lead dating; zircon; Laser ablation https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85123289646&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2022.117375&partnerID=40&md5=4d74590c037cc9a14bc3ded91554da64 Cited by: 2 Emily E. Zawacki Matthijs C. Soest Kip V. Hodges Jennifer J. Scott Mélanie Barboni Manfred R. Strecker Craig S. Feibel Christopher J. Campisano J. Ramón Arrowsmith article Deocampo202242 Article 2022 10.1130/G49140.1 Geology 50 42 – 47 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85122596874&doi=10.1130%2fG49140.1&partnerID=40&md5=a7bca3beeb55a547588c81c789d911d5 Cited by: 5; All Open Access, Green Open Access D.M. Deocampo R.B. Owen T.K. Lowenstein R.W. Renaut N.M. Rabideaux A. Billingsley A. Cohen A.L. Deino M.J. Sier S. Luo C.-C. Shen D. Gebregiorgis C. Campisano A. Mbuthia article Foerster2022805 Article 2022 10.1038/s41561-022-01032-y Nature Geoscience 15 805 – 811 10 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85138766380&doi=10.1038%2fs41561-022-01032-y&partnerID=40&md5=34ff1276ea68c9b4e61c315ff680cee7 Cited by: 36; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Verena Foerster Asfawossen Asrat Christopher Bronk Ramsey Erik T. Brown Melissa S. Chapot Alan Deino Walter Duesing Matthew Grove Annette Hahn Annett Junginger Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Christine S. Lane Stephan Opitz Anders Noren Helen M. Roberts Mona Stockhecke Ralph Tiedemann Céline M. Vidal Ralf Vogelsang Andrew S. Cohen Henry F. Lamb Frank Schaebitz Martin H. Trauth article Lupien2022 Article 2022 10.1038/s41598-022-06826-z Scientific Reports 12 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85125336367&doi=10.1038%2fs41598-022-06826-z&partnerID=40&md5=f6b25b13ded84c28d1e06bcdeffddcb0 Cited by: 28; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Rachel L. Lupien James M. Russell Emma J. Pearson Isla S. Castañeda Asfawossen Asrat Verena Foerster Henry F. Lamb Helen M. Roberts Frank Schäbitz Martin H. Trauth Catherine C. Beck Craig S. Feibel Andrew S. Cohen article Billingsley2021 The carbon isotopic ratios of organic matter in fish fossils from diatomites and other lake beds in the HSPDP drill core from Tugen Hills, Kenya (2.56–3.29 Ma) reflect trophic resource uses and can indicate the dietary habitats of fish in the paleolake. This information offers insight into how fish communities responded to lake-level fluctuations during the Plio-Pleistocene in the East African Rift Valley. We have compared this record with fish fossil isotopes from both a previously published study of a Lake Malawi drill core (139 ka - present) and core top (modern ca 1978) samples collected at the water/sediment boundary from Lake Turkana (Kenya) of known environmental provenance. Both the Lake Malawi drill core fossils (−7.2‰ to −27.5‰ VPDB) and modern Lake Turkana samples (−16‰ to −24.6‰ VPDB) have δ13C values indicating a mix of near-shore and deep-water pelagic species. In contrast, the δ13C values for the Tugen Hills core fossils vary only between −20‰ and −27‰ VPDB. The absence of δ13C values greater than −19‰ suggests none of these fossils are derived from near-shore benthic habitats. The lack of shallow water, benthic lacustrine fish fossils through the Tugen Hills lake cycles may indicate that the rate of change from low-lake stands to deeper lake phases was very rapid, and shallow water communities were not established for long enough to leave a fish fossil record at the core site. These results strongly suggest that lake-level responses to climate variability in the Baringo Basin of the East African Rift were very abrupt during the Plio-Pleistocene transition. © 2019 Article 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109466 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 570 Elsevier B.V. Baringo; East African Lakes; East African Rift; Kenya; Lake Malawi; Lake Turkana; Malawi; Tugen Hills; Turkana; carbon isotope; community structure; diatomite; environmental indicator; fossil record; organic matter; paleoenvironment; paleohydrology; sediment-water interface; trophic structure; water level https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85080047179&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109466&partnerID=40&md5=0be9eae58f4f929f8435a9d3b87a2d5e Cited by: 1; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access Anne L. Billingsley Peter Reinthal David L. Dettman John D. Kingston Alan L. Deino Kevin Ortiz Benjamin Mohler Andrew S. Cohen article Lupien2021 Article 2021 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109426 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 570 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85076830505&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109426&partnerID=40&md5=639f6d980d022fa81b90426b6571229e Cited by: 23 Rachel L. Lupien James M. Russell Chad L. Yost John D. Kingston Alan L. Deino Jon Logan Anna Schuh Andrew S. Cohen article Roberts2021 Article 2021 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107025 Quaternary Science Reviews 266 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85109216574&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2021.107025&partnerID=40&md5=6cfaa174224afe051cee134941a2b0d6 Cited by: 21; All Open Access, Green Open Access Helen M. Roberts Christopher Bronk Ramsey Melissa S. Chapot Alan L. Deino Christine S. Lane Céline Vidal Asfawossen Asrat Andrew Cohen Verena Foerster Henry F. Lamb Frank Schäbitz Martin H. Trauth Finn A. Viehberg article Trauth2021 Article 2021 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106777 Quaternary Science Reviews 266 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85108830755&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2020.106777&partnerID=40&md5=bf1e8ca9c2357ab30d976f9690539ddc Cited by: 20; All Open Access, Green Open Access Martin H. Trauth Asfawossen Asrat Andrew S. Cohen Walter Duesing Verena Foerster Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr K. Hauke Kraemer Henry F. Lamb Norbert Marwan Mark A. Maslin Frank Schäbitz article Sier2021 The principal objective of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling project (HSPDP) is to study the relationship between climate and environmental change and the implications on human evolution in eastern Africa. For this purpose, HSPDP has recovered a 228 m core in the Chemeron Formation of the Baringo Basin (Kenya). The Chemeron Formation spans approximately 3.7 Myr, from around 1.6 to 5.3 Ma, and has yielded many vertebrate fossils, including fossil hominins. The magnetostratigraphy of the Baringo core contributes to the chronological framework. A total of 567 individual paleomagnetic samples were collected from 543 levels at regular intervals throughout the core and 264 were processed using thermal and alternative field stepwise demagnetizations. In most samples, distinct Low-Temperature (LT; 20–150 °C) and High-Temperature (HT; 150–550 °C) Characteristic Remanent Magnetization (ChRM) could be determined. Typical demagnetization behaviors and some rock magnetic experiments suggest titanomagnetite acts as the main carrier of the HT ChRM with pervasive secondary overprints in normal polarity expressed by the LT component. Normal and reversed polarities were identified based on the secondary overprints LT ChRM directions, either parallel or antiparallel to the HT ChRM directions respectively. Our study identified four paleomagnetic reversals interpreted as the Matuyama-Gauss, Gauss-Kaena, Kaena-Gauss and the Gauss-Mammoth transitions. These boundaries provide chronostratigraphic tie-points that can be combined with those derived from 40Ar/39Ar dating of tuffs (Deino et al., 2020) and together indicate that the HSPDP Baringo core has an age range of ~3.3 Ma to ~2.6 Ma. The consistent paleomagnetic and radioisotopic age constraints are incorporated into a Bayesian age model of the core (Deino et al., 2020). © 2021 Elsevier B.V. Article 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110190 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 570 Elsevier B.V. Baringo; Kenya; Tugen Hills; Vertebrata; chronostratigraphy; demagnetization; environmental change; fossil record; hominid; human evolution; magnetostratigraphy; paleohydrology; paleomagnetism; titanomagnetite https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85100681118&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2020.110190&partnerID=40&md5=70a9b2bee97812d45ba3aefdd05e49bf Cited by: 1; All Open Access, Green Open Access Mark J. Sier Guillaume Dupont-Nivet Cor Langereis Alan L. Deino John D. Kingston Andrew S. Cohen article Trauth2021 Article 2021 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107095 Quaternary Science Reviews 268 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85113270595&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2021.107095&partnerID=40&md5=4edccdcc48b4d5abf287b727121a7d22 Cited by: 32; All Open Access, Green Open Access Martin H. Trauth Asfawossen Asrat Nadine Berner Faysal Bibi Verena Foerster Matt Grove Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Mark A. Maslin Manfred Mudelsee Frank Schäbitz article Duesing2021 Article 2021 10.3389/feart.2021.594047 Frontiers in Earth Science 9 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85102883934&doi=10.3389%2ffeart.2021.594047&partnerID=40&md5=02b13457b35cbef0d6dd7d9b5ec8f9fb Cited by: 10; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Walter Duesing Nadine Berner Alan L. Deino Verena Foerster K. Hauke Kraemer Norbert Marwan Martin H. Trauth article Muiruri2021315 Article 2021 10.1007/s10933-020-00173-7 Journal of Paleolimnology 65 315 – 333 3 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85100211155&doi=10.1007%2fs10933-020-00173-7&partnerID=40&md5=5fcc585c0c891b0acd8ee316a931017b Cited by: 5 Veronica M. Muiruri Richard Bernhart Owen Gijs Cort Robin W. Renaut Nathan M. Rabideaux Tim K. Lowenstein Kennie Leet Mark Sier Andrew Cohen Dan Deocampo Christopher J. Campisano Anne Billingsley Anthony Mbuthia article Yost2021 As part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), phytoliths, pollen, and microcharcoal were examined from the 228 m (3.29 to 2.56 Ma) Baringo-Tugen Hills-Barsemoi drill core (BTB13). A total of 652 samples were collected at ~10 to 32 cm intervals, corresponding to sub-millennial to millennial scale temporal resolution. Microcharcoal was well-preserved throughout the core and often peaked in abundance ~5 kyr before and after insolation peaks. Phytolith preservation varied between excellent to total dissolution in alternating intervals throughout the core. Pollen was rarely preserved. These combined datasets indicate that prior to ~3.1 Ma, woody cover fluctuated between open savanna (< 40% cover), woodland (40–80% cover), and forest (> 80% cover) at typically precessional (19–23 kyr) periodicities. During the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP; 3.26–3.01 Ma), intervals with exceptionally high microcharcoal abundance suggest that regional turnover from wooded to open habitats was driven in part by fire. After ~3.1 Ma, low-elevation woody cover likely never exceeded 40%, with oscillations between mesic tall-grass vs. xeric short-grass savanna at precessional periodicities. Mesic C4 tall-grass (Panicoideae) peaked in abundance during insolation maxima, whereas xeric C4 short-grass (Chloridoideae) peaked during insolation minima. The onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (NHG) at ~2.75 Ma coincided with the appearance of deep lake phases and increases in grass density and fire frequency. Spectral analysis and intervals with well-preserved phytoliths indicate that precession and interhemispheric insolation gradients influenced vegetation via their effects on equatorial precipitation and fire. This study fills a crucial gap in Pliocene vegetation reconstructions from the East African Rift Valley and its associated hominin localities. It also provides orbitally resolved regional vegetation data useful in paleodata–model comparisons for the onset of the MPWP (which is often used as an analog for future warming) and NHG. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. Article 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109779 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 570 Elsevier B.V. Baringo; East African Rift; Kenya; Tugen Hills; Chloridoideae; Panicoideae; abundance; glaciation; Northern Hemisphere; phytolith; Pliocene; Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary; pollen; precipitation (climatology); savanna; woodland https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85085044777&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2020.109779&partnerID=40&md5=1604eeed9cad7bc8662ccdec44b66739 Cited by: 13 Chad L. Yost Sarah J. Ivory Alan L. Deino Nathan M. Rabideaux John D. Kingston Andrew S. Cohen article Leet20211137 Sedimentary cherts, with well-preserved microfossils, are known from the Archean to the present, yet their origins remain poorly understood. Lake Magadi, Kenya, has been used as a modern analog system for understanding the origins of nonbiogenic chert. We present evidence for synsedimentary formation of Magadi cherts directly from siliceous gels. Petrographic thin-section analysis and field-emission scanning electron microscopy of cherts from cores drilled in Lake Magadi during the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project in 2014 led to the discovery of two-dimensional branching “labyrinth patterns” in chert, which are a type of fractal “squeeze” pattern formed at air-liquid interfaces. Labyrinth patterns preserved in chert from Lake Magadi cores indicate invasion of air along planes in dewatering gels. These patterns support the precipitation of silica gels in the saline-alkaline Lake Magadi system and syndepositional drying of gels in contact with air as part of chert formation. Recognizing cherts as syndepositional has been critical for our use of them for U-Th dating. Identification of labyrinth patterns in ancient cherts can provide a better understanding of paleoenvironmental and geochemical conditions in the past © 2021 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact editing@geosociety.org. Article 2021 English 00917613 10.1130/G48774.1 Geology 49 Geological Society of America 1137 – 1142 9 Kajiado; Kenya; Lake Magadi; Binary alloys; Field emission microscopes; Infill drilling; Lakes; Phase interfaces; Scanning electron microscopy; Silica; Silica gel; Thorium alloys; Thorium metallography; Uranium alloys; Uranium metallography; Air liquid interfaces; Analog systems; Drilling projects; Field emission scanning electron microscopy; Geochemical conditions; Microfossils; Synsedimentary; Thin section; Archean; chert; depositional environment; microfossil; paleolimnology; petrography; precipitation (chemistry); silica; Gels https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85114425508&doi=10.1130%2fG48774.1&partnerID=40&md5=437f85741566bb804901d9533cd01588 Cited by: 4; All Open Access, Green Open Access Kennie Leet Tim K. Lowenstein Robin W. Renaut R. Bernhart Owen Andrew Cohen article Schaebitz2021 Article 2021 10.1038/s43247-021-00195-7 Communications Earth and Environment 2 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85116444064&doi=10.1038%2fs43247-021-00195-7&partnerID=40&md5=b5503d710f2f4ef71e1adf387da693f9 Cited by: 47; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Frank Schaebitz Asfawossen Asrat Henry F. Lamb Andrew S. Cohen Verena Foerster Walter Duesing Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Stephan Opitz Finn A. Viehberg Ralf Vogelsang Jonathan Dean Melanie J. Leng Annett Junginger Christopher Bronk Ramsey Melissa S. Chapot Alan Deino Christine S. Lane Helen M. Roberts Céline Vidal Ralph Tiedemann Martin H. Trauth article Krueger2021 Eastern Africa has been a prime target for scientific drilling because it is rich in key paleoanthropological sites as well as in paleolakes, containing valuable paleoclimatic information on evolutionary time scales. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) explores these paleolakes with the aim of reconstructing environmental conditions around critical episodes of hominin evolution. Identification of biological taxa based on their sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) traces can contribute to understand past ecological and climatological conditions of the living environment of our ancestors. However, sedaDNA recovery from tropical environments is challenging because high temperatures, UV irradiation, and desiccation result in highly degraded DNA. Consequently, most of the DNA fragments in tropical sediments are too short for PCR amplification. We analyzed sedaDNA in the upper 70 m of the composite sediment core of the HSPDP drill site at Chew Bahir for eukaryotic remnants. We first tested shotgun high throughput sequencing which leads to metagenomes dominated by bacterial DNA of the deep biosphere, while only a small fraction was derived from eukaryotic, and thus probably ancient, DNA. Subsequently, we performed cross-species hybridization capture of sedaDNA to enrich ancient DNA (aDNA) from eukaryotic remnants for paleoenvironmental analysis, using established barcoding genes (cox1 and rbcL for animals and plants, respectively) from 199 species that may have had relatives in the past biosphere at Chew Bahir. Metagenomes yielded after hybridization capture are richer in reads with similarity to cox1 and rbcL in comparison to metagenomes without prior hybridization capture. Taxonomic assignments of the reads from these hybridization capture metagenomes also yielded larger fractions of the eukaryotic domain. For reads assigned to cox1, inferred wet periods were associated with high inferred relative abundances of putative limnic organisms (gastropods, green algae), while inferred dry periods showed increased relative abundances for insects. These findings indicate that cross-species hybridization capture can be an effective approach to enhance the information content of sedaDNA in order to explore biosphere changes associated with past environmental conditions, enabling such analyses even under tropical conditions. © Copyright © 2021 Krueger, Foerster, Trauth, Hofreiter and Tiedemann. Article 2021 English 22966463 10.3389/feart.2021.683010 Frontiers in Earth Science 9 Frontiers Media S.A. Ethiopia; Bacteria (microorganisms); Chlorophyta; Eukaryota; Gastropoda; Hexapoda; archaeological evidence; biosphere; core analysis; DNA; hominid; human settlement; hybridization; irradiation; paleoclimate; paleoecology; paleoenvironment; paleolimnology; reconstruction; timescale; tropical environment; ultraviolet radiation https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85116487254&doi=10.3389%2ffeart.2021.683010&partnerID=40&md5=a8b2b7d679113d1a53788ef00bb5b517 Cited by: 2; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Johanna Krueger Verena Foerster Martin H. Trauth Michael Hofreiter Ralph Tiedemann article Deino2021 The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published in, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109519. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. Erratum 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109535 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 571 Elsevier B.V. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85079753298&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109535&partnerID=40&md5=dbd3b5e762fdb05ff8899ae256da845a Cited by: 0 Alan L. Deino article Westover2021 Kenya's Baringo-Tugen Hills-Barsemoi drill site is one of six localities across Kenya and Ethiopia from which the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project has obtained sediment cores in an effort to investigate the role of environmental forcing in shaping human evolution. The Baringo Basin site features extensive exposures of the Chemeron Formation, which contains >100 fossil vertebrate localities including five hominin sites. The 228-m drill core, dating from ~3.29 to 2.56 Ma, is characterized by fluvio-lacustrine sediments, including multiple diatomites, with evidence of variable degrees of later pedogenic modification. In the lower part of the core (~3.29–3.04 Ma), diatoms were preserved only in very low abundance, consistent with predominantly fluvial or lake marginal environments. In contrast, five diatomites and two additional diatom-rich intervals were deposited after ~3.04 Ma, reflecting a major shift in the basin hydrology. Planktonic freshwater species dominated these diatom-rich intervals, whereas periphytic taxa were present in proportions less than 2%, suggesting that these intervals represent open-water deposition during lake highstands. Littoral or saline assemblages are largely absent throughout the core. Instead, we observed a pattern of increasing diatom frustule dissolution at the tops and bottoms of diatomite units, indicating increased alkalinity during the transgressive/regressive phases. A Na-bearing zeolite (analcime) indicative of saline waters precipitated in clastic-dominated intervals between diatomites, suggesting extreme environmental variability between lake highstands and lowstands. Diatom assemblages were consistently dominated by a few species belonging to the genera Aulacoseira and Stephanodiscus, which were at times co-dominant. We infer that assemblages dominated by Aulacoseira represent a well-mixed lake with abundant supply of silica. When Stephanodiscus was dominant, which occurred more frequently in the later freshwater phases, we infer incomplete mixing and reduced silica flux to the epilimnion (upper water layer). © 2019 Elsevier B.V. Article 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109382 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 570 Elsevier B.V. Baringo; Ethiopia; Kenya; Tugen Hills; Aulacoseira; Bacillariophyta; Stephanodiscus; Vertebrata; alkalinity; diatom; diatomite; fluvial deposit; fossil assemblage; lacustrine deposit; paleolimnology; Pliocene; sediment core https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85076866115&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109382&partnerID=40&md5=caf7c1c432cbca104504483365814e6c Cited by: 6; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access Karlyn S. Westover Jeffery R. Stone Chad L. Yost Jennifer J. Scott Andrew S. Cohen Nathan M. Rabideaux Mona Stockhecke John D. Kingston article Deino2021 The Baringo-Tugen Hills-Barsemoi 2013 drillcore (BTB13), acquired as part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project, recovered 228 m of fluvio-lacustrine sedimentary rocks and tuffs spanning a ~3.29–2.56 Ma interval of the highly fossiliferous and hominin-bearing Chemeron Formation, Tugen Hills, Kenya. Here we present a Bayesian stratigraphic age model for the core employing chronostratigraphic control points derived from 40Ar/39Ar dating of tuffs from core and outcrop, 40Ar/39Ar age calibration of related outcrop diatomaceous units, and core magnetostratigraphy. The age model reveals three main intervals with distinct sediment accumulation rates: an early rapid phase from 3.2–2.9 Ma; a relatively slow phase from 2.9–2.7 Ma; and the highest rate of accumulation from 2.7–2.6 Ma. The intervals of rapid accumulation correspond to periods of high Earth orbital eccentricity, whereas the slow accumulation interval corresponds to low eccentricity at 2.9–2.7 Ma, suggesting that astronomically mediated climate processes may be responsible for the observed changes in sediment accumulation rate. Lacustrine transgression-regression events, as delineated using sequence stratigraphy, dominantly operate on precession scale, particularly within the high eccentricity periods. A set of erosively based fluvial conglomerates correspond to the 2.9–2.7 Ma interval, which could be related to either the depositional response to low eccentricity or to the development of unconformities due to local tectonic activity. Age calibration of core magnetic susceptibility and gamma density logs indicates a close temporal correspondence between a shift from high- to low-frequency signal variability at ~3 Ma, approximately coincident the end of the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period, and the beginning of the cooling of world climate leading to the initiation of Northern Hemispheric glaciation c. 2.7 Ma. BTB13 and the Baringo Basin records may thus provide evidence of a connection between high-latitude glaciation and equatorial terrestrial climate toward the end of the Pliocene. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. Article 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109519 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 570 Elsevier B.V. Baringo; Kenya; Tugen Hills; Bayesian analysis; chronostratigraphy; dating method; eccentricity; magnetic susceptibility; magnetostratigraphy; modeling; outcrop; sedimentary rock; sequence stratigraphy https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85076833758&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109519&partnerID=40&md5=55fe390e5e973bc19e2fe76bc6186652 Cited by: 8; All Open Access, Green Open Access Alan L. Deino Mark J. Sier Dominique I. Garello C. Brenhin Keller John D. Kingston Jennifer J. Scott Guillaume Dupont-Nivet Andrew S. Cohen article Duesing2021 Article 2021 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107219 Quaternary Science Reviews 273 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85118473788&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2021.107219&partnerID=40&md5=753dc298620a92e4f142f57f8f8d3c79 Cited by: 11 Walter Duesing Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr Asfawossen Asrat Andrew S. Cohen Verena Foerster Henry F. Lamb Frank Schaebitz Martin H. Trauth Finn Viehberg article Arnold2021 Article 2021 10.3389/feart.2021.606588 Frontiers in Earth Science 9 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85109213796&doi=10.3389%2ffeart.2021.606588&partnerID=40&md5=632b140220d5a1dad24df341d0b01413 Cited by: 8; All Open Access, Gold Open Access Gabriele E. Arnold Verena Foerster Martin H. Trauth Henry Lamb Frank Schaebitz Asfawossen Asrat Claudia Szczech Christina Günter article Muiruri2021 This study examines a one-million-year pollen record from a 194-m-long Lake Magadi core (HSPDP-MAG14-2A) in the south Kenya Rift Valley. The pollen indicate a general trend through the last 740 kyr from wetter conditions to generally drier environments. Grassland dominated with less common Podocarpus and Cyperaceae in a sparse flora between 1000 and 740 ka. Poaceae, woodland and herbaceous plants are common through the remaining core and abundant between 740 and 528 ka and after 200 ka. Pollen diversity increased after 200 ka. Podocarpus and Cyperaceae reached a peak abundance at ~575 ka with a subsequent decline that suggests a progressive increase in aridity, interrupted by wetter intervals. Podocarpus-dominated forests expanded and contracted many times during the Quaternary and document an anti-phased relationship with data from Lake Malawi. Similar anti-phased correlations are noted for herbaceous plants, suggesting that the two basins responded differently to the same climate or were influenced by contrasting climate regimes. Increases in macrocharcoal correlate with increasing pollen abundance and suggest wetter conditions. Data from the Magadi, Koora and Olorgesailie basins indicate similar trends and a dominant climate control on vegetation and habitats. Large lakes characterised all three basins at 740–528 ka with climate subsequently becoming drier, but with many wetter intervals. At various times the lakes expanded, contracted and dried out, except at Lake Magadi where spring inflows maintained lacustrine conditions through the late Quaternary. Faulting also contributed to fragmentation of the landscape and formation of a mosaic of habitats. An especially intense period of aridity at ~528–392 ka coincided with extinction of many large-bodied mammals and may have helped to drive a change from the use of Acheulean hand axes to the production of Middle Stone Age tools by 320 ka. After 200 ka pollen diversity increased substantially with a mix of montane, riparian and dry forest associations that were present in varying amounts through to ~4.2 ka at the core top. © 2021 Elsevier B.V. Article 2021 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110247 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 567 Elsevier B.V. East African Lakes; East African Rift; Kajiado; Kenya; Kenya Rift; Lake Magadi; Lake Malawi; Rift Valley; Cyperaceae; Mammalia; Poaceae; Podocarpus; Acheulean; dry forest; extinction; grassland; habitat fragmentation; habitat mosaic; historical record; mammal; Mesolithic; paleoenvironment; pollen; vegetation history https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85100722464&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2021.110247&partnerID=40&md5=e456cb4aab5178dd1b17d7c2047c7b71 Cited by: 7 Veronica M. Muiruri R. Bernhart Owen Tim K. Lowenstein Robin W. Renaut Robert Marchant Stephen M. Rucina Andrew Cohen Alan L. Deino Mark J. Sier Shangde Luo Kennie Leet Christopher Campisano Nathan M. Rabideaux Daniel Deocampo Chuan-Chou Shen Anthony Mbuthia Brant C. Davis Wadha Aldossari Chenyu Wang article Lupien2020 Article 2020 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106531 Quaternary Science Reviews 245 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85089363020&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2020.106531&partnerID=40&md5=249aa2eb40d3dfab6cb36c2d9f741875 Cited by: 24 Rachel L. Lupien James M. Russell Matt Grove Catherine C. Beck Craig S. Feibel Andrew S. Cohen article Stone2020270 Article 2020 10.11646/phytotaxa.436.3.5 Phytotaxa 436 270 – 282 3 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85086403365&doi=10.11646%2fphytotaxa.436.3.5&partnerID=40&md5=98e65071b636c9287073d179cf1aa56f Cited by: 0 Jeffery R. Stone J. Patrick Kociolek Karlyn S. Westover article Deino2019213 The Olorgesailie Drilling Project and the related Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project in East Africa were initiated to test hypotheses and models linking environmental change to hominin evolution by drilling lake basin sediments adjacent to important archeological and paleoanthropological sites. Drill core OLO12-1A recovered 139 m of sedimentary and volcaniclastic strata from the Koora paleolake basin, southern Kenya Rift, providing the opportunity to compare paleoenvironmental influences over the past million years with the parallel record exposed at the nearby Olorgesailie archeological site. To refine our ability to link core-to-outcrop paleoenvironmental records, we institute here a methodological framework for deriving a robust age model for the complex lithostratigraphy of OLO12-1A. Firstly, chronostratigraphic control points for the core were established based on 40Ar/39Ar ages from intercalated tephra deposits and a basal trachyte flow, as well as the stratigraphic position of the Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal. This dataset was combined with the position and duration of paleosols, and analyzed using a new Bayesian algorithm for high-resolution age-depth modeling of hiatus-bearing stratigraphic sections. This model addresses three important aspects relevant to highly dynamic, non-linear depositional environments: 1)correcting for variable rates of deposition, 2)accommodating hiatuses, and 3)quantifying realistic age uncertainty with centimetric resolution. Our method is applicable to typical depositional systems in extensional rifts as well as to drill cores from other dynamic terrestrial or aquatic environments. We use the core age model and lithostratigraphy to examine the interconnectivity of the Koora Basin to adjacent areas and sources of volcanism. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd Article 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.009 Quaternary Science Reviews 215 Elsevier Ltd 213 – 231 East Africa; East African Rift; Kenya; Kenya Rift; Bayesian networks; Deposition; Drills; Geologic models; Geomagnetism; Infill drilling; Paleolimnology; Sedimentology; Stratigraphy; Bayesian model; East Africa; Kenya rift; Magnetostratigraphy; paleosol; Pleistocene; Radiogenic isotopes; Tephrostratigraphy; algorithm; archaeology; Bayesian analysis; chronostratigraphy; depositional environment; drill bit; drilling; environmental change; extensional tectonics; historical record; hominid; human evolution; hypothesis testing; isotopic analysis; lacustrine deposit; lithostratigraphy; magnetic reversal; magnetostratigraphy; numerical model; paleoenvironment; paleohydrology; paleolimnology; paleosol; Pleistocene; sedimentation rate; sedimentology; tectonostratigraphy; volcaniclastic deposit; volcanism; Core drilling https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85067949023&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.05.009&partnerID=40&md5=ad5f646719139ccc871604d2949efd16 Cited by: 12; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access A.L. Deino R. Dommain C.B. Keller R. Potts A.K. Behrensmeyer E.J. Beverly J. King C.W. Heil M. Stockhecke E.T. Brown J. Moerman P. deMenocal article Deino2019 The Baringo-Tugen-Barsemoi 2013 drillcore (BTB13), acquired as part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project, recovered 228 m of fluviolacustrine sedimentary rocks and tuffs spanning a ~3.29–2.56 Ma interval of the highly fossiliferous and hominin-bearing Chemeron Formation, Tugen Hills, Kenya. Here we present a Bayesian stratigraphic age model for the core employing chronostratigraphic control points derived from 40Ar/39Ar dating of tuffs from core and outcrop, 40Ar/39Ar age calibration of related outcrop diatomaceous units, and core magnetostratigraphy. The age model reveals three main intervals with distinct sediment accumulation rates: an early rapid phase from 3.2 to 2.9 Ma; a relatively slow phase from 2.9 to 2.7 Ma; and the highest rate of accumulation from 2.7 to 2.6 Ma. The intervals of rapid accumulation correspond to periods of high Earth orbital eccentricity, whereas the slow accumulation interval corresponds to low eccentricity at 2.9–2.7 Ma, suggesting that astronomically mediated climate processes may be responsible for the observed changes in sediment accumulation rate. Lacustrine transgression-regression events, as delineated using sequence stratigraphy, dominantly operate on precession scale, particularly within the high eccentricity periods. A set of erosively based fluvial conglomerates correspond to the 2.9–2.7 Ma interval, which could be related to either the depositional response to low eccentricity or to the development of unconformities due to local tectonic activity. Age calibration of core magnetic susceptibility and gamma density logs indicates a close temporal correspondence between a shift from high- to low-frequency signal variability at ~3 Ma, approximately coincident the end of the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period, and the beginning of the cooling of world climate leading to the initiation of Northern Hemispheric glaciation c. 2.7 Ma. BTB13 and the Baringo Basin records may thus provide evidence of a connection between high-latitude glaciation and equatorial terrestrial climate toward the end of the Pliocene. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. Article 2019 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109258 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 532 Elsevier B.V. accumulation rate; age determination; Bayesian analysis; chronostratigraphy; core logging; dating method; eccentricity; magnetostratigraphy; modeling; outcrop; paleoclimate; paleolimnology; Pliocene; precession; sequence stratigraphy; tephrochronology https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85069751249&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109258&partnerID=40&md5=43dc8b54e738a22fe5f16c08c909c0d0 Cited by: 2; All Open Access, Green Open Access A.L. Deino M.J. Sier D. Garello B. Keller J. Kingston J. Scott G. Dupont-Nivet A. Cohen article Trauth20192557 The Chew Bahir Drilling Project (CBDP) aims to test possible linkages between climate and evolution in Africa through the analysis of sediment cores that have recorded environmental changes in the Chew Bahir basin. In this statistical project we consider the Chew Bahir palaeolake to be a dynamical system consisting of interactions between its different components, such as the waterbody, the sediment beneath lake, and the organisms living within and around the lake. Recurrence is a common feature of such dynamical systems, with recurring patterns in the state of the system reflecting typical influences. Identifying and defining these influences contributes significantly to our understanding of the dynamics of the system. Different recurring changes in precipitation, evaporation, and wind speed in the Chew Bahir basin could result in similar (but not identical) conditions in the lake (e.g., depth and area of the lake, alkalinity and salinity of the lake water, species assemblages in the water body, and diagenesis in the sediments). Recurrence plots (RPs) are graphic displays of such recurring states within a system. Measures of complexity were subsequently introduced to complement the visual inspection of recurrence plots, and provide quantitative descriptions for use in recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). We present and discuss herein results from an RQA on the environmental record from six short (< 17 m) sediment cores collected during the CBDP, spanning the last 45 kyrs. The different types of variability and transitions in these records were classified to improve our understanding of the response of the biosphere to climate change, and especially the response of humans in the area. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. 2019 English 09307575 10.1007/s00382-019-04641-3 Climate Dynamics 53 Springer Verlag 2557-2572 Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany; Department of Geography, University College London, London, United Kingdom 5-6 atmospheric dynamics; climate change; Holocene; paleoclimate; Pleistocene; recurrence interval; time series analysis, Ethiopia https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85061043150&doi=10.1007%2fs00382-019-04641-3&partnerID=40&md5=f17f6c2728b3d929241dea35682f57cd cited By 23 M.H. Trauth A. Asrat W. Duesing V. Foerster K.H. Kraemer N. Marwan M.A. Maslin F. Schaebitz article DeCort2019279 Article 2019 10.1007/s10933-019-00092-2 Journal of Paleolimnology 62 279 – 300 3 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85072051045&doi=10.1007%2fs10933-019-00092-2&partnerID=40&md5=a9b9a6475fe1c599028d9e9a2763f0d1 Cited by: 11 Gijs De Cort Florias Mees Robin W. Renaut Matthias Sinnesael Thijs Meeren Steven Goderis Edward Keppens Anthony Mbuthia Dirk Verschuren article BernhartOwen201997 Article 2019 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.01.017 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 518 97 – 118 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060103673&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.01.017&partnerID=40&md5=cfa6ed9e16d277f880783e4f069a02eb Cited by: 42 R. Bernhart Owen Robin W. Renaut Veronica M. Muiruri Nathan M. Rabideaux Tim K. Lowenstein Emma P. McNulty Kennie Leet Daniel Deocampo Shangde Luo Alan L. Deino Andrew Cohen Mark J. Sier Christopher Campisano Chuan-Chou Shen Anne Billingsley Anthony Mbuthia Mona Stockhecke article Billingsley2019 The carbon isotopic ratios of organic matter in fish fossils from diatomites and other lake beds in the HSPDP drill core from Tugen Hills, Kenya (2.56–3.29 Ma) reflect trophic resource uses, and can indicate the dietary habitats of fish in the paleolake. This information offers insight into how fish communities responded to lake-level fluctuations during the Plio-Pleistocene in the East African Rift Valley. We have compared this record with fish fossil isotopes from both a previously published study of a Lake Malawi drill core (139 ka–present) and core top (modern ca 1978) samples collected at the water/sediment boundary from Lake Turkana (Kenya) of known environmental provenance. Both the Lake Malawi drill core fossils (−7.2‰ to −27.5‰ VPDB) and modern Lake Turkana samples (−16‰ to −24.6‰ VPDB) have δ13C values indicating a mix of near-shore and deep-water pelagic species. In contrast, the δ13C values for the Tugen Hills core fossils vary only between −20‰ and −27‰ VPDB. The absence of δ13C values greater than −19‰, suggests none of these fossils are derived from near-shore benthic habitats. The lack of shallow water, benthic lacustrine fish fossils through the Tugen Hills lake cycles may indicate that the rate of change from low-lake stands to deeper lake phases was very rapid, and shallow water communities were not established for long enough to leave a fish fossil record at the core site. These results strongly suggest that lake level responses to climate variability in the Baringo basin of the East African Rift were very abrupt during the Plio-Pleistocene transition. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. Article 2019 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109320 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 534 Elsevier B.V. Baringo; East African Lakes; East African Lakes; East African Rift; Kenya; Lake Malawi; Lake Turkana; Tugen Hills; carbon isotope; climate variation; ecosystem response; fish; fossil record; habitat type; lake level; organic matter; paleoclimate; paleoecology; paleoenvironment; Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary; shallow water https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85071076934&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2019.109320&partnerID=40&md5=9c875d6b823477268a227ae8d2013b5c Cited by: 1 Anne L. Billingsley Peter Reinthal David L. Dettman John D. Kingston Alan L. Deino Kevin Ortiz Benjamin Mohler Andrew S. Cohen article Brindle2018230 Three novel species of Bacillariophyta (diatom) are described from the sediments of Paleolake Lorenyang, a large lake that existed in the Turkana Basin, Kenya during the Gelasian age of the Pleistocene Epoch. Sediment cores extracted as part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) were sampled to provide a diatom-based paleoecological record of Paleolake Lorenyang. Preliminary results of the paleoecological analysis unearthed three novel species of diatoms belonging to Surirella and Thalassiosira in the Natoo Member of the Nachukui Formation. Comparisons of Surirella from Paleolake Lorenyang are made to previous reports of Surirella from modern lakes in East Africa and comparisons of Thalassiosira species from the paleolake are made to modern and fossil species reported from East Africa. This is a first report of diatoms in the Natoo Member, which has previously been described as a floodplain deposit, and thus provides evidence of the last occurrence of Paleolake Lorenyang within the Turkana Basin. Herein we describe a new species of Surirella and two Thalassiosira with remarks on morphology and evolution of East African Surirella and Thalassiosira. © 2018 Magnolia Press. Article 2018 English 11793155 10.11646/phytotaxa.371.3.6 Phytotaxa 371 Magnolia Press 230 – 240 3 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85055259850&doi=10.11646%2fphytotaxa.371.3.6&partnerID=40&md5=85176a4dc3ca110855005c4d8b9ddd80 Cited by: 2 Matthew Brindle Joseph Mohan Catherine Beck Jeffery R. Stone article Foerster2018111 Deciphering paleoclimate from lake sediments is a challenge due to the complex relationship between climate parameters and sediment composition. Here we show the links between potassium (K) concentrations in the sediments of the Chew Bahir basin in the Southern Ethiopian Rift and fluctuations in the catchment precipitation/evaporation balance. Our micro-X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction results suggest that the most likely process linking climate with potassium concentrations is the authigenic illitization of smectites during episodes of higher alkalinity and salinity in the closed-basin lake, due to a drier climate. Whole-rock and clay size fraction analyses suggest that illitization of the Chew Bahir clay minerals with increasing evaporation is enhanced by octahedral Al-to-Mg substitution in the clay minerals, with the resulting layer charge increase facilitating potassium-fixation. Linking mineralogy with geochemistry shows the links between hydroclimatic control, process and formation of the Chew Bahir K patterns, in the context of well-known and widely documented eastern African climate fluctuations over the last 45,000 years. These results indicate characteristic mineral alteration patterns associated with orbitally controlled wet-dry cycles such as the African Humid Period (~15–5 ka) or high-latitude controlled climate events such as the Younger Dryas (~12.8–11.6 ka) chronozone. Determining the impact of authigenic mineral alteration on the Chew Bahir records enables the interpretation of the previously established μXRF-derived aridity proxy K and provides a better paleohydrological understanding of complex climate proxy formation. © 2018 2018 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.04.009 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 501 Elsevier B.V. 111-123 Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany; Department of Geosciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, United States; Addis Ababa University, School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Potsdam, Germany; German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), Potsdam, Germany alkalinity; authigenic mineral; catchment; clay mineral; climate variation; concentration (composition); evaporation; illitization; lacustrine deposit; mineral alteration; paleoclimate; potassium; precipitation (climatology); proxy climate record; salinity; wetting-drying cycle; Younger Dryas; zeolite, East African Rift; Ethiopian Rift https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046138136&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2018.04.009&partnerID=40&md5=e0f496813f6f8a6767e27e93c6897003 cited By 25 V. Foerster D.M. Deocampo A. Asrat C. Günter A. Junginger K.H. Krämer N.A. Stroncik M.H. Trauth article Lupien2018225 Article 2018 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.03.012 Quaternary Science Reviews 186 225 – 235 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85043450674&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2018.03.012&partnerID=40&md5=b4325030617c7c425cc758b8b9becacb Cited by: 46 R.L. Lupien J.M. Russell C. Feibel C. Beck I. Castaneda A. Deino A.S. Cohen article Viehberg2018139 Archaeological findings, numerical human dispersal models and genome analyses suggest several time windows in the past 200 kyr (thousands of years ago) when anatomically modern humans (AMH) dispersed out of Africa into the Levant and/or Arabia. From close to the key hominin site of Omo-Kibish, we provide near continuous proxy evidence for environmental changes in lake sediment cores from the Chew Bahir basin, south Ethiopia. The data show highly variable hydroclimate conditions from 116 to 66 kyr BP with rapid shifts from very wet to extreme aridity. The wet phases coincide with the timing of the North African Humid Periods during MIS5, as defined by Nile discharge records from the eastern Mediterranean. The subsequent record at Chew Bahir suggests stable regional hydrological setting between 58 and 32 kyr (MIS4 and 3), which facilitated the development of more habitable ecosystems, albeit in generally dry climatic conditions. This shift, from more to less variable hydroclimate, may help account for the timing of later dispersal events of AMH out of Africa. © 2018 The Authors Article 2018 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.008 Quaternary Science Reviews 202 Elsevier Ltd 139 – 153 Institute for Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 49A, Cologne, 50674, Germany; NERC Isotope Geosciences Facilities, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, United Kingdom; School of Environmental Sciences, University of HullHU6 7RX, United Kingdom; Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, United Kingdom; Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy, and Palaeontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, 53115, Germany; Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, Cologne, 50923, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstr. 53, Hamburg, 20146, Germany; Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Pohligstraße 3, Cologne, 50969, Germany; Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, 76344, Germany; School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, United Kingdom; Minerals and Waste Directorate, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, United Kingdom; Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstraße 2, Cologne, 50931, Germany Geology, Archaeological findings; Climatic conditions; Eastern Mediterranean; Environmental change; Genome analysis; Humid periods; Lake sediment cores; Rapid shifts, Natural sciences, anatomy; archaeology; aridity; climate conditions; dispersal; environmental change; horn; lacustrine deposit; marine isotope stage; sediment core, Arabian Sea; Ethiopia; Indian Ocean; Levantine Sea; Mediterranean Sea; Mediterranean Sea (East), Homo sapiens https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85054097526&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2018.09.008&partnerID=40&md5=d9639709eb7d34107181b80f7c3e203c Cited by: 30; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Finn A. Viehberg Janna Just Jonathan R. Dean Bernd Wagner Sven Oliver Franz Nicole Klasen Thomas Kleinen Patrick Ludwig Asfawossen Asrat Henry F. Lamb Melanie J. Leng Janet Rethemeyer Antoni E. Milodowski Martin Claussen Frank Schäbitz article Lüdecke201813330 New geochemical data from the Malawi Rift (Chiwondo Beds, Karonga Basin) fill a major spatial gap in our knowledge of hominin adaptations on a continental scale. Oxygen (δ 18 O), carbon (δ 13 C), and clumped (Δ 47 ) isotope data on paleosols, hominins, and selected fauna elucidate an unexpected diversity in the Pleistocene hominin diet in the various habitats of the East African Rift System (EARS). Food sources of early Homo and Paranthropus thriving in relatively cool and wet wooded savanna ecosystems along the western shore of paleolake Malawi contained a large fraction of C 3 plant material. Complementary water consumption reconstructions suggest that ca. 2.4 Ma, early Homo (Homo rudolfensis) and Paranthropus (Paranthropus boisei) remained rather stationary near freshwater sources along the lake margins. Time-equivalent Paranthropus aethiopicus from the Eastern Rift further north in the EARS consumed a higher fraction of C 4 resources, an adaptation that grew more pronounced with increasing openness of the savanna setting after 2 Ma, while Homo maintained a high versatility. However, southern African Paranthropus robustus had, similar to the Malawi Rift individuals, C 3 -dominated feeding strategies throughout the Early Pleistocene. Collectively, the stable isotope and faunal data presented here document that early Homo and Paranthropus were dietary opportunists and able to cope with a wide range of paleohabitats, which clearly demonstrates their high behavioral flexibility in the African Early Pleistocene. © 2018 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved. Article 2018 English 00278424 10.1073/pnas.1809439115 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115 National Academy of Sciences 13330 – 13335 52 Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Biological Evolution; Carbon Isotopes; Dental Enamel; Diet; Ecosystem; Environment; Feeding Behavior; Fossils; History, Ancient; Hominidae; carbon; adaptation; Article; C3 plant; diet; ecosystem; enamel; evolution; feeding behavior; fluid intake; fossil hominin; habitat; Homo rudolfensis; isotope analysis; Malawi; nonhuman; Paranthropus boisei; Pleistocene; priority journal; animal; chemistry; diet; environment; fossil; history; hominid; metabolism; physiology https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85059214057&doi=10.1073%2fpnas.1809439115&partnerID=40&md5=2107c0532544fc2ba036af9756f7c2f3 Cited by: 21; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Tina Lüdecke Ottmar Kullmer Ulrike Wacker Oliver Sandrock Jens Fiebig Friedemann Schrenk Andreas Mulch article Trauth2018321 We used a change point analysis on a late Pleistocene-Holocene lake-sediment record from the Chew Bahir basin in the southern Ethiopian Rift to determine the amplitude and duration of past climate transitions. The most dramatic changes occurred over 240 yr (from 15,700 to 15,460 yr) during the onset of the African Humid Period (AHP), and over 990 yr (from 4875 to 3885 yr) during its protracted termination. The AHP was interrupted by a distinct dry period coinciding with the high-latitude Younger Dryas stadial, which had an abrupt onset (less than 100 yr) at 13,260 yr and lasted until 11,730 yr. Wet-dry-wet transitions prior to the AHP may reflect the high-latitude Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, as indicated by cross-correlation of the potassium record with the NorthGRIP ice core record between 45-20 ka. These findings may contribute to the debates regarding the amplitude, and duration and mechanisms of past climate transitions, and their possible influence on the development of early modern human cultures. © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018. 2018 English 00335894 10.1017/qua.2018.30 Quaternary Research (United States) 90 Cambridge University Press 321-330 Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam, 14476, Germany; Institute of Geography Education, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstraße 2, Köln, 50931, Germany; Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP), Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstrasse 12, Tübingen, 72074, Germany; Addis Ababa University, School of Earth Sciences, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Aberystwyth University, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, United Kingdom 2 Hierarchical systems; Principal component analysis, Change-point analysis; Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles; Holocenes; Humid periods; Late Pleistocene; Paleoclimatology; Southern Ethiopian Rift; Younger Dryas, Climate change https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046574708&doi=10.1017%2fqua.2018.30&partnerID=40&md5=1d15c2b8fa47c349f12af7c2e410a7e3 cited By 19 M.H. Trauth V. Foerster A. Junginger A. Asrat H.F. Lamb F. Schaebitz article Sier2017117 One of the major challenges in understanding the evolution of our own species is identifying the role climate change has played in the evolution of hominin species. To clarify the influence of climate, we need long and continuous high-resolution paleoclimate records, preferably obtained from hominin-bearing sediments, that are well-dated by tephro- and magnetostratigraphy and other methods. This is hindered, however, by the fact that fossil-bearing outcrop sediments are often discontinuous, and subject to weathering, which may lead to oxidation and remagnetization. To obtain fresh, unweathered sediments, the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) collected a ∼216-meter core (WTK13) in 2013 from Early Pleistocene Paleolake Lorenyang deposits in the western Turkana Basin (Kenya). Here, we present the magnetostratigraphy of the WTK13 core, providing a first age model for upcoming HSPDP paleoclimate and paleoenvrionmental studies on the core sediments. Rock magnetic analyses reveal the presence of iron sulfides carrying the remanent magnetizations. To recover polarity orientation from the near-equatorial WTK13 core drilled at 5°N, we developed and successfully applied two independent drill-core reorientation methods taking advantage of (1) the sedimentary fabric as expressed in the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) and (2) the occurrence of a viscous component oriented in the present day field. The reoriented directions reveal a normal to reversed polarity reversal identified as the top of the Olduvai Subchron. From this excellent record, we find no evidence for the ‘Vrica Subchron’ previously reported in the area. We suggest that outcrop-based interpretations supporting the presence of the Vrica Subchron have been affected by the oxidation of iron sulfides initially present in the sediments -as evident in the core record- and by subsequent remagnetization. We discuss the implications of the observed geomagnetic record for human evolution studies. © 2017 Article 2017 English 18711014 10.1016/j.quageo.2017.08.004 Quaternary Geochronology 42 Elsevier B.V. 117 – 129 Kenya; Turkana; core analysis; hominid; human evolution; iron sulfide; magnetic reversal; magnetostratigraphy; Olduvai event; paleolimnology; Pleistocene; remagnetization https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85029446255&doi=10.1016%2fj.quageo.2017.08.004&partnerID=40&md5=389c304c9e7701e08c93d03801c735b4 Cited by: 14 Mark J. Sier Cor G. Langereis Guillaume Dupont-Nivet Craig S. Feibel Josephine C.A. Joordens Jeroen H.J.L. Lubbe Catherine C. Beck Daniel Olago Andrew Cohen article Cohen20161 The role that climate and environmental history may have played in influencing human evolution has been the focus of considerable interest and controversy among paleoanthropologists for decades. Prior attempts to understand the environmental history side of this equation have centered around the study of outcrop sediments and fossils adjacent to where fossil hominins (ancestors or close relatives of modern humans) are found, or from the study of deep sea drill cores. However, outcrop sediments are often highly weathered and thus are unsuitable for some types of paleoclimatic records, and deep sea core records come from long distances away from the actual fossil and stone tool remains. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) was developed to address these issues. The project has focused its efforts on the eastern African Rift Valley, where much of the evidence for early hominins has been recovered.We have collected about 2 km of sediment drill core from six basins in Kenya and Ethiopia, in lake deposits immediately adjacent to important fossil hominin and archaeological sites. Collectively these cores cover in time many of the key transitions and critical intervals in human evolutionary history over the last 4 Ma, such as the earliest stone tools, the origin of our own genus Homo, and the earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Here we document the initial field, physical property, and core description results of the 2012-2014 HSPDP coring campaign. © Author(s) 2016. Article 2016 English 18168957 10.5194/sd-21-1-2016 Scientific Drilling 21 Copernicus GmbH 1 – 16 Core drilling; Deposits; Drills; Environmental protection; Lakes; Sediments; Archaeological site; Drilling projects; Environmental contexts; Environmental history; Evolutionary history; Human evolution; Lake deposits; Paleoclimatic record; Deepwater drilling https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84958769593&doi=10.5194%2fsd-21-1-2016&partnerID=40&md5=353363f454af8d712dc228049c649085 Cited by: 72; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access A. Cohen C. Campisano R. Arrowsmith A. Asrat A.K. Behrensmeyer A. Deino C. Feibel A. Hill R. Johnson J. Kingston H. Lamb T. Lowenstein A. Noren D. Olago R.B. Owen R. Potts K. Reed R. Renaut F. Schäbitz J.J. Tiercelin M.H. Trauth J. Wynn S. Ivory K. Brady R. O'Grady J. Rodysill J. Githiri J. Russell V. Foerster R. Dommain S. Rucina D. Deocampo A. Billingsley C. Beck G. Dorenbeck L. Dullo D. Feary D. Garello R. Gromig T. Johnson A. Junginger M. Karanja E. Kimburi A. Mbuthia T. McCartney E. McNulty V. Muiruri E. Nambiro E.W. Negash D. Njagi J.N. Wilson N. Rabideaux T. Raub M.J. Sier P. Smith J. Urban M. Warren M. Yadeta C. Yost B. Zinaye article Mohan2016235 Paleolake Hadar was an expansive lake in the lower Awash Valley of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression that existed periodically through the Late Pliocene. The sedimentary deposits from this ancient lake (Hadar Formation) have broad importance because a significant number of hominin fossils have been recovered from the formation. Samples of the Hadar Formation lacustrine sequence were collected from sediment cores extracted as part of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP). A paleoecological study of the HSPDP Northern Awash (Hadar Formation) material has unearthed three novel species of Bacillariophyta (diatoms) from diatomites that appear periodically in the cores. The Hadar Formation assemblage represents a newly revealed excerpt from the evolutionary history of freshwater diatoms in East Africa during the Piacenᴢian age (2.59-3.60 Ma). The HSPDP Northern Awash diatom species are compared to previously reported diatoms from Pliocene outcrops, modern and fossil core material from Lake Malawi, and extant species. Here we describe two new species of Aulacoseira and one of Lindavia. Taxonomic treatment of two diatom varieties reported by previous researchers as Melosira are transferred into Aulacoseira herein. © 2016 Magnolia Press. Article 2016 English 11793155 10.11646/phytotaxa.272.4.1 Phytotaxa 272 Magnolia Press 235 – 247 4 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84986882133&doi=10.11646%2fphytotaxa.272.4.1&partnerID=40&md5=5e89066f36e08b6d660e155cfc38ffc2 Cited by: 2; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access Joseph Mohan Jeffery R. Stone Christopher J. Campisano article Foerster2015333 Our understanding of the impact of climate-driven environmental change on prehistoric human populations is hampered by the scarcity of continuous paleoenvironmental records in the vicinity of archaeological sites. Here we compare a continuous paleoclimatic record of the last 20 ka before present from the Chew Bahir basin, southwest Ethiopia, with the available archaeological record of human presence in the region. The correlation of this record with orbitally-driven insolation variations suggests a complex nonlinear response of the environment to climate forcing, reflected in several long-term and short-term transitions between wet and dry conditions, resulting in abrupt changes between favorable and unfavorable living conditions for humans. Correlating the archaeological record in the surrounding region of the Chew Bahir basin, presumably including montane and lake-marginal refugia for human populations, with our climate record suggests a complex interplay between humans and their environment during the last 20 ka. The result may contribute to our understanding of how a dynamic environment may have impacted the adaptation and dispersal of early humans in eastern Africa. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. 2015 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.026 Quaternary Science Reviews 129 Elsevier Ltd 333-340 University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam, 14476, Germany; University of Cologne, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Str. 11, Cologne, 50969, Germany; Eberhard Karls Universität Tuebingen, Department of Earth Sciences, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP-Tuebingen), Hölderlinstrasse 12, Tübingen, 72074, Germany; Addis Ababa University, School of Earth Sciences, P. O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Aberystwyth University, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, United Kingdom; University of Cologne, Seminar for Geography and Education, Gronewaldstrasse 2, Cologne, 50931, Germany Geology; Natural sciences, Adaption; Archeology; Chew Bahir; Foragers; Humid periods; Hunter-gatherers; Migration; Paleoclimates; Pastoralism; Push factor, Climate change, adaptation; archaeological evidence; climate forcing; climate variation; environmental change; historical time (human history); migration; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; pastoralism, Africa; Ethiopia; Kenya https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84946401492&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2015.10.026&partnerID=40&md5=12b70211dfc84dee08f9ae083faca1af cited By 42 V. Foerster R. Vogelsang A. Junginger A. Asrat H.F. Lamb F. Schaebitz M.H. Trauth article Trauth201521 Article 2015 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.011 Journal of Human Evolution 87 21 – 31 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84944174753&doi=10.1016%2fj.jhevol.2015.03.011&partnerID=40&md5=ae529983af830e2e904d7f18894db6c0 Cited by: 29 Martin H. Trauth Andreas G.N. Bergner Verena Foerster Annett Junginger Mark A. Maslin Frank Schaebitz article DiMaggio2015234 The Pliocene Hadar Formation, exposed throughout the lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia, chronicles the evolution and paleoenvironmental context of early hominins. Deposition of the Hadar Formation continued until at least 2.94 Ma, but what transpired in the Hadar Basin after this time remains poorly documented due to an erosional event that truncated the formation throughout much of the valley. Here we present geologic mapping and stratigraphic analysis of a 26 m-thick section of sedimentary rocks and tephras exposed in the Ledi-Geraru project area in the region of Gulfaytu. The section contains Hadar Formation strata younger than 2.94 Ma, and sediments that we interpret are Busidima Formation in age, <2.7 Ma. We use this record to place additional constraints on depositional environments and the tectonic and paleogeomorphic history of the region. The lower ~20 m of section contains lacustrine deposits that conformably overly a 2.94 Ma marker bed (BKT-2U) that previously served as the uppermost dated tephra in the Hadar Formation. We identified seven post-BKT-2U tephras; three were analyzed for glass chemistry, and one yielded an 40Ar/39Ar age of 2.931 ± 0.017 Ma (1σ). Based on these analyses, the newly mapped deposits at Gulfaytu extend the top of the Hadar Formation, representing ca. 20 kyr of post-BKT-2 sedimentation. The Hadar Basin remained depositional following the BKT-2 eruptions, and paleolake Hadar was present at Gulfaytu at this time. An erosional surface marked by a conglomerate truncates the Hadar strata suggesting that the Gulfaytu region was also was influenced by significant changes to basin architecture well-documented elsewhere in the lower Awash Valley. In addition, geophysical models suggest that central Ledi Geraru hosts a thick subsurface lacustrine sedimentary record within the Hadar Basin. The results of this paper provide the outcrop and near surface characterization for the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) effort at Gulfaytu. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Article 2015 English 1464343X 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.09.018 Journal of African Earth Sciences 112 Elsevier Ltd 234 – 250 Afar; depositional environment; geological mapping; hominid; lithostratigraphy; paleoenvironment; Pliocene; tephra; tephrochronology https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84943748041&doi=10.1016%2fj.jafrearsci.2015.09.018&partnerID=40&md5=cc1c61efcb676af027c4e4bb4f8ca347 Cited by: 4; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access Erin N. DiMaggio J Ramón Arrowsmith Christopher J. Campisano Roy Johnson Alan L. Deino Mark Warren Shimeles Fisseha Andrew S. Cohen article Junginger20141 The water-level record from the 300. m deep paleo-lake Suguta (Northern Kenya Rift) during the African Humid Period (AHP, 15-5. ka BP) helps to explain decadal to centennial intensity variations in the West African Monsoon (WAM) and the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). This water-level record was derived from three different sources: (1) grain size variations in radiocarbon dated and reservoir corrected lacustrine sediments, (2) the altitudes and ages of paleo-shorelines within the basin, and (3) the results of hydro-balance modeling, providing important insights into the character of water level variations (abrupt or gradual) in the amplifier paleo-Lake Suguta. The results of these comprehensive analyses suggest that the AHP highstand in the Suguta Valley was the direct consequence of a northeastwards shift in the Congo Air Boundary (CAB), which was in turn caused by an enhanced atmospheric pressure gradient between East Africa and India during a northern hemisphere insolation maximum. Rapidly decreasing water levels of up to 90. m over less than a hundred years are best explained by changes in solar irradiation either reducing the East African-Indian atmospheric pressure gradient and preventing the CAB from reaching the study area, or reducing the overall humidity in the atmosphere, or a combination of both these effects. In contrast, although not well documented in our record we hypothesize a gradual end of the AHP despite an abrupt change in the source of precipitation when a decreasing pressure gradient between Asia and Africa prevented the CAB from reaching the Suguta Valley. The abruptness was probably buffered by a contemporaneous change in precession producing an insolation maximum at the equator during October. Whether or not this is the case, the water-level record from the Suguta Valley demonstrates the importance of both orbitally-controlled insolation variations and short-term changes in solar irradiation as factors affecting the significant water level variations in East African rift lakes. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. Article 2014 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.12.007 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 396 1 – 16 Atlantic Ocean; Congo Margin; Kenya; Rift Valley; Suguta Valley; Congo; East African Rift; Kenya; Kenya Rift; Rift Valley; Suguta Valley; atmospheric pressure; irradiation; migration determinant; paleoatmosphere; paleolimnology; pressure gradient; radiocarbon dating; shoreline; solar radiation; water level; atmospheric pressure; grain size; highstand; insolation; irradiation; monsoon; Northern Hemisphere; pressure gradient; rift zone; summer; water level https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84893006703&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2013.12.007&partnerID=40&md5=7a04c40bea0b1aaf38dd48011c0448e0 Cited by: 58 Annett Junginger Sybille Roller Lydia A. Olaka Martin H. Trauth article Foerster201225 East African paleoenvironments are highly variable, marked by extreme fluctuations in moisture availability, which has far-reaching implications for the origin, evolution and dispersal of Homo sapiens in and beyond the region. This paper presents results from a pilot core from the Chew Bahir basin in southern Ethiopia that records the climatic history of the past 45 ka, with emphasis on the African Humid Period (AHP, ∼15-5 ka calBP). Geochemical, physical and biological indicators show that Chew Bahir responded to climatic fluctuations on millennial to centennial timescales, and to the precessional cycle, since the Last Glacial Maximum. Potassium content of the sediment appears to be a reliable proxy for aridity, showing that Chew Bahir reacted to the insolation-controlled humidity increase of the AHP with a remarkably abrupt onset and a gradual termination, framing a sharply defined arid phase (∼12.8-11.6 ka calBP) corresponding to the Younger Dryas chronozone. The Chew Bahir record correlates well with low- and high-latitude paleoclimate records, demonstrating that the site responded to regional and global climate changes. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. 2012 English 10406182 10.1016/j.quaint.2012.06.028 Quaternary International 274 25-37 Seminar of Geography and Education, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstraße 2, 50931 Köln, Germany; Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Zülpicher Straße 49a-b, 50674 Köln, Germany; University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany; University of Addis Ababa, Department of Earth Sciences, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, United Kingdom; GFZ German Centre for Geoscience Potsdam, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Telegrafenberg C321, 14473 Potsdam, Germany climate variation; lacustrine deposit; Last Glacial Maximum; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; Younger Dryas, Ethiopia, Homo sapiens https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84866004597&doi=10.1016%2fj.quaint.2012.06.028&partnerID=40&md5=f09195cc4d210e79fe4d5f30ab59ff72 cited By 101 V. Foerster A. Junginger O. Langkamp T. Gebru A. Asrat M. Umer H.F. Lamb V. Wennrich J. Rethemeyer N. Nowaczyk M.H. Trauth F. Schaebitz article Richter20121 Editorial 2012 English 10406182 10.1016/j.quaint.2012.06.009 Quaternary International 274 1 – 4 Homo sapiens https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84866002240&doi=10.1016%2fj.quaint.2012.06.009&partnerID=40&md5=0f55b448d7c3ffe8918b035d8f21ac2e Cited by: 18; All Open Access, Green Open Access Jürgen Richter Martin Melles Frank Schäbitz article Trauth2009399 We analyzed published records of terrigenous dust flux from marine sediments off subtropical West Africa, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the Arabian Sea, and lake records from East Africa using statistical methods to detect trends, rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate. The critical reassessment of the environmental significance of dust flux and lake records removes the apparent inconsistencies between marine vs. terrestrial records of African climate variability. Based on these results, major steps in mammalian and hominin evolution occurred during episodes of a wetter, but highly variable climate largely controlled by orbitally induced insolation changes in the low latitudes. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Article 2009 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.11.003 Quaternary Science Reviews 28 399 – 411 5-6 Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; West Africa; Mammalia; Climatology; Mammals; Salinity measurement; Submarine geology; climate variation; dust; marine sediment; Mediterranean Water; Pleistocene; statistical analysis; subtropical region; terrigenous deposit; trend analysis; Arabian seas; Climate variabilities; Dust fluxes; East africa; Eastern mediterraneans; Environmental significances; Marine sediments; West-Africa; Dust https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-59649108494&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2008.11.003&partnerID=40&md5=9e8381a7a70aa55f90fae17fb4808b4d Cited by: 255 Martin H. Trauth Juan C. Larrasoaña Manfred Mudelsee article Cohen200960 Article 2009 English 18168957 10.5194/sd-8-60-2009 Scientific Drilling Integrated Ocean Drilling Program 60 – 65 8 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77956536681&doi=10.5194%2fsd-8-60-2009&partnerID=40&md5=498ab389ad5cd677d11ccb320a19e267 Cited by: 22; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Andrew Cohen Ramon Arrowsmith Anna K. Behrensmeyer Christopher Campisano Craig Feibel Shimeles Fisseha Roy Johnson Zelalem Kubsa Bedaso Charles Lockwood Emma Mbua Daniel Olago Richard Potts Kaye Reed Robin Renaut Jean-Jacques Tiercelin Mohammed Umer article Cohen2006161 Conference paper 2006 English 00963941 10.1029/2006eo160008 Eos 87 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 161 16 human evolution; Neogene; paleoclimate https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-34447639111&doi=10.1029%2f2006eo160008&partnerID=40&md5=e7dcf16bf4a18ce7c76375efec71711e Cited by: 2; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access Andrew S. Cohen Gail M. Ashley Richard Potts Anna K. Behrensmeyer Craig Feibel Jay Quade