A two-million-year-long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern Africa

Thibaut Caley (), Thomas Extier, James A. Collins, Enno Schefuß, Lydie Dupont, Bruno Malaizé, Linda Rossignol, Antoine Souron, Erin L. McClymont, Francisco J. Jimenez-Espejo, Carmen García-Comas, Frédérique Eynaud, Philippe Martinez, Didier M. Roche, Stephan J. Jorry, Karine Charlier, Mélanie Wary, Pierre-Yves Gourves, Isabelle Billy and Jacques Giraudeau
Additional contact information
Thibaut Caley: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Thomas Extier: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
James A. Collins: GFZ – German Research Center for Geosciences, Section 5.1 Geomorphology, Organic Surface Geochemistry Laboratory
Enno Schefuß: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
Lydie Dupont: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
Bruno Malaizé: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Linda Rossignol: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Antoine Souron: PACEA, UMR 5199, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Erin L. McClymont: Durham University
Francisco J. Jimenez-Espejo: Department of Biogeochemistry (JAMSTEC)
Carmen García-Comas: Research and Development Center for Global Change, (JAMSTEC)
Frédérique Eynaud: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Philippe Martinez: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Didier M. Roche: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
Stephan J. Jorry: Unité Géosciences Marines, Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)
Karine Charlier: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Mélanie Wary: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Pierre-Yves Gourves: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Isabelle Billy: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux
Jacques Giraudeau: EPOC, UMR 5805, CNRS, University of Bordeaux

Nature, 2018, vol. 560, issue 7716, 76-79

Abstract: Abstract The past two million years of eastern African climate variability is currently poorly constrained, despite interest in understanding its assumed role in early human evolution1–4. Rare palaeoclimate records from northeastern Africa suggest progressively drier conditions2,5 or a stable hydroclimate6. By contrast, records from Lake Malawi in tropical southeastern Africa reveal a trend of a progressively wetter climate over the past 1.3 million years7,8. The climatic forcings that controlled these past hydrological changes are also a matter of debate. Some studies suggest a dominant local insolation forcing on hydrological changes9–11, whereas others infer a potential influence of sea surface temperature changes in the Indian Ocean8,12,13. Here we show that the hydroclimate in southeastern Africa (20–25° S) is controlled by interplay between low-latitude insolation forcing (precession and eccentricity) and changes in ice volume at high latitudes. Our results are based on a multiple-proxy reconstruction of hydrological changes in the Limpopo River catchment, combined with a reconstruction of sea surface temperature in the southwestern Indian Ocean for the past 2.14 million years. We find a long-term aridification in the Limpopo catchment between around 1 and 0.6 million years ago, opposite to the hydroclimatic evolution suggested by records from Lake Malawi. Our results, together with evidence of wetting at Lake Malawi, imply that the rainbelt contracted toward the Equator in response to increased ice volume at high latitudes. By reducing the extent of woodland or wetlands in terrestrial ecosystems, the observed changes in the hydroclimate of southeastern Africa—both in terms of its long-term state and marked precessional variability—could have had a role in the evolution of early hominins, particularly in the extinction of Paranthropus robustus.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0309-6

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