Holocene geomorphological and pedosedimentary archives of eastern Sahelian paleoenvironments (Kassala, Sudan)

Author:

Costanzo Stefano1ORCID,Zerboni Andrea2,Manzo Andrea1

Affiliation:

1. Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo, Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’, Italy

2. Dipartimento di Scienze delle Terra ‘A. Desio’, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Abstract

Studies upon past climates, natural landscapes, and environments of archaeologically pivotal regions of northern Africa have been of paramount interest in the past decades. For some of those regions, the human-environmental nexus, intended as the biunivocal mutual agency between people and nature, has been a long-standing research question; yet, for other areas, the environmental record is a still unexplored archive. Here we present case studies discussing archaeo-environmental sites from the easternmost stretches of the Sahelian belt, in the Kassala region of Sudan. Therein, in a landscape that is currently characterized by granitoid rocky outcrops dotting a vast gravelly pediplain colonized by xerophytes and thin ephemeral grass, pedosedimentary features that encase the climatic history of the region are found. By means of field survey, physico-chemical laboratory analyses, micromorphological analyses, and radiometric dating, we investigated the uppermost portion of the Quaternary record to contextualize the Late-Holocene archaeological record. The main identified features include buried isohumic soil horizons in lower flat grounds, which are legacy of water-reliant prairie environments formed in the wetter Early to Middle Holocene, and later accretional dusty aeolian deposits intermingled with colluvial gravels close to the outcrops’ eroded foothills, testimony of a climatic deterioration towards aridity and erosion driven by hyper seasonality. Results are of great importance as a contribution to a more holistic understanding of past human economies of the region, as well as being a newly added tile to the reconstruction of surface processes dynamics over Africa and their response to global climate changes.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Paleontology,Earth-Surface Processes,Ecology,Archeology,Global and Planetary Change

Cited by 1 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3