The spatiotemporal extent of the Green Sahara during the last glacial period.

ABSTRACT: The Sahara Desert, one of today's most inhospitable environments, has known periods of enhanced precipitation that supported pre-historic humans. However, the Green Sahara timing and moisture sources are not well known due to limited paleoclimate information. Here, we present a multi-proxy (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, Δ¹⁷O, and trace elements) speleothem-based climate record from Northwest (NW) Africa. Our data document two Green Sahara periods during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a and the Early to Mid-Holocene. Consistency with paleoclimate records across North Africa highlights the east-west geographical extent of the Green Sahara, whereas millennial-scale North Atlantic cooling (Heinrich) events consistently resulted in drier conditions. We demonstrate that an increase i

SUBMITTER: Ait Brahim Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10320408 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature