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Late Holocene linkages between decade–century scale climate variability and productivity at Lake Tanganyika, Africa

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Abstract

Microlaminated sediment cores from the Kalya slope region of Lake Tanganyika provide a near-annually resolved paleoclimate record between ∼∼2,840 and 1,420 cal. yr B.P. demonstrating strong linkages between climate variability and lacustrine productivity. Laminae couplets comprise dark, terrigenous-dominated half couplets, interpreted as low density underflows deposited from riverine sources during the rainy season, alternating with light, planktonic diatomaceous ooze, with little terrigenous component, interpreted as windy/dry season deposits. Laminated portions of the studied cores consist of conspicuous dark and light colored bundles of laminae couplets. Light and dark bundles alternate at decadal time scales. Within dark bundles, both light and dark half couplets are significantly thinner than within light bundles, implying slower sediment accumulation rates during both seasons over those intervals.

Time series analyses of laminae thickness patterns demonstrate significant periodicities at interannual–centennial time scales. Longer time scale periodicities (multidecadal to centennial scale) of light and dark half couplet thicknesses are coherent and in some cases are similar to solar cycle periods on these time scales. Although laminae thickness cycles do not strongly covary with the actual Δ14C record for this same time period, two large Δ14C anomalies are associated with substantial decreases in both light and dark laminae thickness. In contrast to the multidecadal– centennial time scale, significant annual to decadal periodicities, which are broadly consistent with ENSO/PDO forcing and their impact on East African climate, are not coherent between light and dark half couplets. The coherency of light–dark couplets at decadal–centennial time scales, but not at shorter time scales, is consistent with a model of a long-term relationship between precipitation (recorded in wet season dark laminae thickness) and productivity (light laminae thickness), which is not manifest at shorter time scales. We hypothesize that this coupling results from long-term recharging of internal nutrient loading during wet periods (higher erosion of soil P) and reduced loading during drought intervals. The relationship is not expressed on short time scales during which the dominant control on productivity is wind-driven, dry season upwelling, which is uncorrelated with wet-season precipitation. Our record greatly extends the temporal record of this quasi-periodic behavior throughout the late Holocene and provides the first evidence linking decade- to century-scale episodes of enhanced productivity to enhanced precipitation levels and nutrient recharge in a productive tropical lake.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, the Tanzanian Council on Science and Technology, FAO/FINNIDA/LTR, the students and staff of the Nyanza Project, the crew of the M/V Maman Benita, and colleagues at the University of Dar es Salaam for help with this project and access to unpublished data. We are grateful to M. Mann for discussion of spectral analyses and C. Clark for assistance with climate data. We also thank J.␣Curt Stager and William Last for their many valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. This research was financed by NSF (grant nos. ATM9619458 and ATM0223920) and the Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project. JEC acknowledges NSF support in the form of a CAREER grant on decadal variability. This is contribution #168 of the International Decade of East African Lakes (IDEAL).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Andrew S. Cohen, Kiram E. Lezzar, Julia Cole & David Dettman

  2. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Julia Cole

  3. Power, Environmental, and Energy Research Center, California Institute of Technology, Covina, CA, 91722, USA

    Geoffrey S. Ellis

  4. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    Meagan Eagle Gonneea

  5. Geology & Mineralogy Department, Royal Museum for Central Africa, B-3080, Tervuren, Belgium

    Pierre-Denis Plisnier

  6. National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management (RIKZ), 2500 EX, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Victor Langenberg

  7. Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas, A.P. 402, Guanajuato, Gto, C.P. 36000, Mexico

    Maarten Blaauw

  8. Department of Geology, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

    Derrick Zilifi

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Cohen, A.S., Lezzar, K.E., Cole, J. et al. Late Holocene linkages between decade–century scale climate variability and productivity at Lake Tanganyika, Africa. J Paleolimnol 36, 189–209 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-006-9004-y

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