Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of

 

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

4-2011

Comments

Published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 303:1–4 (April 1, 2011), pp. 51–70; doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.01.012 Special isssue: Southern hemisphere tropical climate over the past 145ka: Results of the Lake Malawi Scientific Drilling Project, East Africa. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. Used by permission.

Abstract

Analysis of sedimentary diatom assemblages (10 to 144 ka) form the basis for a detailed reconstruction of the paleohy­drography and diatom paleoecology of Lake Malawi. Lake-level fluctuations on the order of hundreds of meters were in­ferred from dramatic changes in the fossil and sedimentary archives. Many of the fossil diatom assemblages we observed have no analog in modern Lake Malawi. Cyclotelloid diatom species are a major component of fossil assemblages prior to 35 ka, but are not found in significant abundances in the modern diatom communities in Lake Malawi. Salinity- and alkalin­ity-tolerant plankton has not been reported in the modern lake system, but frequently dominant fossil diatom assemblages prior to 85 ka. Large stephanodiscoid species that often dominate the plankton today are rarely present in the fossil record prior to 31 ka. Similarly, prior to 31 ka, common central-basin aulacoseiroid species are replaced by species found in the shal­low, well-mixed southern basin. Surprisingly, tychoplankton and periphyton were not common throughout prolonged low­stands, but tended to increase in relative abundance during periods of inferred deeper-lake environments.

A high-resolution lake level reconstruction was generated by a principle component analysis of fossil diatom and wet-sieved fossil and mineralogical residue records. Prior to 70 ka, fossil assemblages suggest that the central basin was periodi­cally a much shallower, more saline and/or alkaline, well-mixed environment. The most significant reconstructed lowstands are ~ 600 m below the modern lake level and span thousands of years. These conditions contrast starkly with the deep, dilute, dysaerobic environments of the modern central basin. After 70 ka, our reconstruction indicates sustained deeper-water en­vironments were common, marked by a few brief, but significant, lowstands. High amplitude lake-level fluctuations appear related to changes in insolation. Seismic reflection data and additional sediment cores recovered from the northern basin of Lake Malawi provide evidence that supports our reconstruction.

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