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21,000 Years of Ethiopian African monsoon variability recorded in sediments of the western Nile deep-sea fan

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Abstract

The Nile delta sedimentation constitutes a continuous high-resolution record of Ethiopian African monsoon (EAM) regime intensity. Multi-proxy analyses performed on hemipelagic sediments deposited on the Nile deep-sea fan allow the quantification of the Saharan aeolian dust and the Blue/White Nile River suspended matter frequency fluctuations during the last 21,000 years. The radiogenic strontium and neodymium isotopes, clay mineralogy, elemental composition and preliminary palynological analyses reveal large changes in source components, oscillating between a dominant aeolian Saharan contribution during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the late Holocene (~4,000–2,000 years), a dominant Blue/Atbara Nile River contribution during the early Holocene (15,000–8,000 years) and a probable White Nile River contribution during the middle Holocene (8,000–4,000 years). The following main features are highlighted: (1) The rapid shift from the LGM arid conditions to the African Humid Period (AHP) started at about 15,000 years. The AHP extends until 8,000 years, and we suggest that the EAM maximum between 15,000 and 8,000 years is responsible for a larger Blue/Atbara Nile sediment load and freshwater input into the eastern Mediterranean Sea. (2) The transition between the AHP and the arid late Holocene is gradual and occurs in two main phases between 8,400–6,500 years and 6,500–3,200 years. We suggest that the main rain belt shifted southward from 8,000 to ~4,000 years and was responsible for progressively reduced sediment load and freshwater input into the eastern Mediterranean Sea. (3) The aridification along the Nile catchments occurred from ~4,000 to 2,000 years. This dry period, which culminates at 3,200 year, seems to coincide with a re-establishment of increased oceanic primary productivity in the western Mediterranean Sea. Such a pattern imposes a large and rapid northward shift of the rain belt over the Ethiopian highlands (5–15°N) since 15,000 years. Precipitation over Ethiopia increased from 15,000 to 8,000 years. It was followed by a gradual southward shift of the rain belt over the equator from 8,000 to 4,000 years and finally a large shift of the rain belt south the equator between 4,000 and 2,000 years inducing North African aridification. We postulate that the decrease in thermohaline water Mediterranean circulation could be part of a response to huge volumes of freshwater delivered principally by the Nile River from 15,000 to 8,000 years in the eastern Mediterranean.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Paul Capiez and Thierry Courp for major element and mineralogy analyses, respectively. We are also grateful for the constructive reviews undertaken by Dupont Lydie and Fatima Abrantes and the anonymous reviewer. We acknowledge the financial support of the French RELIEFS programme. We thank the Laboratoire de Mesure du Carbone 14, UMS 2572, ARTEMIS in Saclay for 14C measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Géoazur, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, 250 rue A. Einstein, 06560, Sophia Antipolis, France

    Yann Rolland, Sebastien Migeon & Jean Mascle

  2. IDES UMR 8148 CNRS, Université de Paris-Sud XI, Bât 504, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Christophe Colin & Yulong Zhao

  3. Geologisches Institut, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Stefano Bernasconi

  4. LSCE, UMR 8212, Orme des merisier, 91191, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

    Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout

  5. UMR-CNRS 5805-EPOC, Université Bordeaux 1, Avenue des facultés, 33405, Talence Cedex, France

    Emmanuelle Ducassou & Francis E. Grousset

  6. Laboratoire de Tectonophysique, Université de Montpellier II, 34095, Montpellier, France

    Delphine Bosch

  7. Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, UMR5563, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France

    Pierre Brunet

  8. Nice Sophia Antipolis University, CNRS, IRD, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Géoazur UMR 7329, 250 rue A. Einstein, Sophia Antipolis, 06560, Valbonne, France

    Marie Revel

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  1. Marie Revel
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Revel, M., Colin, C., Bernasconi, S. et al. 21,000 Years of Ethiopian African monsoon variability recorded in sediments of the western Nile deep-sea fan. Reg Environ Change 14, 1685–1696 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-014-0588-x

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