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Holocene climate phases from buried soils in Tigray (northern Ethiopia): comparison with lake level fluctuations in the Main Ethiopian Rift

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Francesco Dramis ,
Mohammed Umer ,
Gilberto Calderoni  and
Mitiku Haile
Francesco Dramis*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, “Roma Tre” University, Largo S. Leonardo Murialdo 1, 00146 Rome, Italy
Mohammed Umer
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Addis Ababa, P.O. Box 3434, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Gilberto Calderoni
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, “La Sapienza” University, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Mitiku Haile
Affiliation:
Department of Soil Science, University College of Mekelle, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +39-06-54888201.E-mail address:dramis@uniroma3.it (F. Dramis).
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Abstract

Stratigraphic analysis of alluvial/colluvial sequences and 14C dating have been used as proxies for Holocene climate changes in the highlands of Tigray (northern Ethiopia). The studied records show alternations of buried soils and peaty–clayey sediments, pointing to wet, stabilization phases, and organic-free colluvium layers resulting from the abrupt occurrence of dry-climate episodes. The 14C dates, mostly unpublished, cluster in the 11,090–9915, 9465–9135, 8450–7330, 6720–3635, 2710–2345, and 1265–790 cal yr B.P. time spans. Evidence of subsequent pedogenesis is lacking in the area, apart from a buried humified horizon dated at 300 ± 60 14C yr B.P. (460–295 cal yr B.P.). Both the timing and the pattern of Tigray paleoclimatic events fit the corresponding framework, based on lake level changes, previously implemented for the Main Rift Valley. These findings give further support for arguing that the forcing mechanisms of the wet/dry fluctuations during the Holocene were effective over a large scale.

Keywords

HoloceneBuried soilsStratigraphy14C datingClimate changesEthiopia
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , November 2003 , pp. 274 - 283
Copyright
University of Washington

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