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; Jacques Giraudeau

doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0309-6

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, Jacques Giraudeau

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

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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 evolution^1–4. Rare palaeoclimate records from northeastern Africa suggest progressively drier conditions^2,5 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 years^7,8. 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 changes^9–11, whereas others infer a potential influence of sea surface temperature changes in the Indian Ocean^8,12,13. 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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	76-79
Number of pages	4
Journal	Nature
Volume	560
Issue number	7716
Early online date	9 Jul 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0309-6
Publication status	Published - 2 Aug 2018

Funding

Acknowledgements T.C. is supported by CNRS-INSU. Funding from LEFE-IMAGO CNRS INSU project SeaSalt is acknowledged. T.C. was partly supported by the ‘Laboratoire d’Excellence’ LabexMER (ANR-10-LABX-19) and co-funded by a grant from the French government under the program ‘Investissements d’Avenir’, and by a grant from the Regional Council of Brittany (SAD programme). J.A.C. acknowledges funding from the ERC project ‘STEEPClim’. E.S. and L.D. acknowledge funding through the DFG Research Center/ Cluster of Excellence ‘The Ocean in the Earth System’ at MARUM – Center for Environmental Sciences. A.S. acknowledges funding through the LaScArBx, a programme supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-LABX-52). C.G.-C. was supported by CREST (grant number JPMJCR12A3; P.I. SLS) funded by the Japan Science and Technology (JST). Core MD96-2048 was collected during the MOZAPHARE cruise of the RV Marion Dufresne, supported by the French agencies Ministère de l’Education Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Institut Paul Emile Victor (IPEV).

Funders	Funder number
CNRS-INSU	ANR-10-LABX-19
Institut Paul
MARUM
Ministère de l’Education Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie
European Research Council
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Agence Nationale de la Recherche	ANR-10-LABX-52
Japan Science and Technology Agency
Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology	JPMJCR12A3
Conseil Régional de Bretagne
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Svenska Föreningen för Alkohol- och Drogforskning

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A two million year long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern AfricaFinal published version, 8.93 MBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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Caley, T., Extier, T., Collins, J. A., Schefuß, E., Dupont, L., Malaizé, B., Rossignol, L., Souron, A., McClymont, E. L., Jimenez-Espejo, F. J., García-Comas, C., Eynaud, F., Martinez, P., Roche, D. M., Jorry, S. J., Charlier, K., Wary, M., Gourves, P. Y., Billy, I., & Giraudeau, J. (2018). A two-million-year-long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern Africa. Nature, 560(7716), 76-79. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0309-6

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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.",

author = "Thibaut Caley and Thomas Extier and Collins, {James A.} and Enno Schefu{\ss} and Lydie Dupont and Bruno Malaiz{\'e} and Linda Rossignol and Antoine Souron and McClymont, {Erin L.} and Jimenez-Espejo, {Francisco J.} and Carmen Garc{\'i}a-Comas and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}rique Eynaud and Philippe Martinez and Roche, {Didier M.} and Jorry, {Stephan J.} and Karine Charlier and M{\'e}lanie Wary and Gourves, {Pierre Yves} and Isabelle Billy and Jacques Giraudeau",

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Caley, T, Extier, T, Collins, JA, Schefuß, E, Dupont, L, Malaizé, B, Rossignol, L, Souron, A, McClymont, EL, Jimenez-Espejo, FJ, García-Comas, C, Eynaud, F, Martinez, P, Roche, DM, Jorry, SJ, Charlier, K, Wary, M, Gourves, PY, Billy, I & Giraudeau, J 2018, 'A two-million-year-long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern Africa', Nature, vol. 560, no. 7716, pp. 76-79. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0309-6

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T1 - A two-million-year-long hydroclimatic context for hominin evolution in southeastern Africa

AU - Caley, Thibaut

AU - Extier, Thomas

AU - Collins, James A.

AU - Schefuß, Enno

AU - Dupont, Lydie

AU - Malaizé, Bruno

AU - Rossignol, Linda

AU - Souron, Antoine

AU - McClymont, Erin L.

AU - Jimenez-Espejo, Francisco J.

AU - García-Comas, Carmen

AU - Eynaud, Frédérique

AU - Martinez, Philippe

AU - Roche, Didier M.

AU - Jorry, Stephan J.

AU - Charlier, Karine

AU - Wary, Mélanie

AU - Gourves, Pierre Yves

AU - Billy, Isabelle

AU - Giraudeau, Jacques

PY - 2018/8/2

Y1 - 2018/8/2

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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

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