Palynological and geochemical data of sediment core GeoB3910-2 located offshore Northeast Brazil

DOI

High resolution palynological and geochemical data of sediment core GeoB 3910-2 (located offshore Northeast Brazil) spanning the period between 19 600 and 14 500 calibrated year bp (19.6-14.5 ka) show a land-cover change in the catchment area of local rivers in two steps related to changes in precipitation associated with Heinrich Event 1 (H1 stadial). At the end of the last glacial maximum, the landscape in semi-arid Northeast Brazil was dominated by a very dry type of caatinga vegetation, mainly composed of grasslands with some herbs and shrubs. After 18 ka, considerably more humid conditions are suggested by changes in the vegetation and by Corg and C/N data indicative of fluvial erosion. The caatinga became wetter and along lakes and rivers, sedges and gallery forest expanded. The most humid period was recorded between 16.5 and 15 ka, when humid gallery (and floodplain) forest and even small patches of mountainous Atlantic rain forest occurred together with dry forest, the latter being considered as a rather lush type of caatinga vegetation. During this humid phase erosion decreased as less lithogenic material and more organic terrestrial material were deposited on the continental slope of northern Brazil. After 15 ka arid conditions returned. During the humid second phase of the H1 stadial, a rich variety of landscapes existed in Northeast Brazil and during the drier periods small pockets of forest could probably survive in favorable spots, which would have increased the resilience of the forest to climate change.

Supplement to: Dupont, Lydie M; Schlütz, Frank; Teboh Ewah, Carol; Jennerjahn, Tim C; Paul, André; Behling, Hermann (2010): Two-step vegetation response to enhanced precipitation in Northeast Brazil during Heinrich event 1. Global Change Biology, 16(6), 1647-1660

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.727229
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02023.x
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.727229
Provenance
Creator Dupont, Lydie M ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2009
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 4 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-36.345 LON, -4.245 LAT); Northeast Brasilian Margin