West African Paleoclimates during the Last Climatic Cycle Inferred from an Atlantic Deep-Sea Pollen Record

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Abstract
Pollen studies of marine sediments from Atlantic deep-sea core V22-196 (13°50′ N-18°57′ W; 3728-m water depth) are used to reconstruct paleoclimates of north tropical west Africa since 140,000 yr B.P. High concentration of pollen, mainly from Saharan and arid littoral zones suggests a strengthened tradewind circulation since ca. 60,000 yr B.P. that became even stronger after 40,000 yr B.P. and reached a maximum 17,000 yr B.P. Periods of eolian transport of pollen to the Atlantic occurred about 94,000 and 105,000 yr B.P. and during Termination II. Conversely, high relative values of pollen from Sudanian and Guinean zones and from Mangrove and freshwater vegetation, coincident with maxima of dinocyst concentration, are interpreted as reflecting both strong fluvial inputs and the expansion of humid vegetation on the adjacent continent during wet periods dated between 140,000 and 118,000, 105,000 and 96,000, 92,000 and 73,000, 52,000 and 44,000 yr B.P. and 12,000 yr B.P. and the Holocene. The strong correlation of these results from the eastern tropical Atlantic with those from the Arabian Sea corroborates fluctuations of monsoon climate.
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