A Pleistocene palaeovegetation record from plant wax biomarkers from the Nachukui Formation, West Turkana, Kenya.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructing vegetation at hominin fossil sites provides us critical information about hominin palaeoenvironments and the potential role of climate in their evolution. Here we reconstruct vegetation from carbon isotopes of plant wax biomarkers in sediments of the Nachukui Formation in the Turkana Basin. Plant wax biomarkers were extracted from samples from a wide range of lithologies that include fluvial-lacustrine sediments and palaeosols, and therefore provide a record of vegetation from diverse depositional environments. Carbon isotope ratios from biomarkers indicate a highly dynamic vegetation structure (ca 5-100% C4 vegetation) from 2.3 to 1.7 Ma, with an overall shift towards more C4 vegetation on the landscape after about 2.1 Ma. The biomarker isotope data indicate ca 25-30% more

SUBMITTER: Uno KT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4920292 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature