Poster (Scientific congresses and symposiums)
Did the savannah « flourished » 3000 years ago in the so-called Sangha River Interval of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest ? A retrospective study using stable isotopes and phytoliths
Bentaleb, Ilham; Freycon, Vincent; Gillet, Jean-François et al.
2015European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2015
 

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Keywords :
archaeology; paleoenvironment; central Africa; Congo Basin; phytoliths; radiocarbon; 13C; carbon 13; savannah; Sangha River Interval; Cameroon; Republic of the Congo; tropical forests; tropical Africa; Central African Republic
Abstract :
[en] We aim to improve our knowledge of the dynamic of the vegetation in Central Africa during the last 5 kyrs and to discuss the main hypothesis described in the literature - humans versus climatic impacts- both suggested as responsible of the Congo basin rainforest decline observed between 3 and 2.5 kyrs. We use the carbon isotopic composition of well-dated Central African soils to reconstruct the dynamic of the vegetation cover. We will discuss the carbon isotopic composition of the soil organic carbon methodology for reconstructing palaeovegetation in the light of Rayleigh distillation model. We showed that numerous sites exhibit a carbon isotopic ratios reflecting the Rayleigh distillation but few sites recorded real vegetation changes. Our study suggests that the vegetation of the Guineo-Congolian Region was disturbed between 3000 and 2000 BP (Before Present) without an extreme savannah expansion. We discussed the two hypotheses human versus climate impacts that may conduct to such new physiography of the vegetation. We suggest that the climate hypothesis is more likely than the human impact to explain the reduction of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest 3000 years ago.
Disciplines :
Archaeology
Environmental sciences & ecology
Physics
Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Earth sciences & physical geography
Arts & humanities: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Bentaleb, Ilham;  ISEM Montpellier
Freycon, Vincent;  CIRAD
Gillet, Jean-François;  Nature Forest Environment
Oslisly, Richard;  IRD
Bremond, Laurent;  EPHE
Favier, Charly;  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS
Fontugne, Michel;  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS
Droissart, Vincent
Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie;  CIRAD
Guillou, Gaël
Martin, Céline
Morin, Julie ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Form. doct. sc. agro. & ingé. biol.
Ngomanda, Alfred
de Saulieu, Geoffroy
Sebag, David
Subitani, Sandrine;  EPHE
Wonkam, Christelle;  ISEM Montpellier
Ngeutchoua, Gabriel
More authors (8 more) Less
Language :
English
Title :
Did the savannah « flourished » 3000 years ago in the so-called Sangha River Interval of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest ? A retrospective study using stable isotopes and phytoliths
Publication date :
April 2015
Number of pages :
A0
Event name :
European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2015
Event organizer :
EGU
Event place :
Vienna, Austria
Event date :
27 April - 2 May 2015
Audience :
International
Funders :
F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique [BE]
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture [BE]
NERC - Natural Environment Research Council [GB]
ANR - Agence Nationale de la Recherche [FR]
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