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Geosciences
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Climate and Environmental Change of Africa
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Climate and Environmental Change of Africa

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Climate and Environment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 July 2021) | Viewed by 8316

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Inka Meyer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Department of Geology, Ghent University, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Interests: sedimentology; aeolian sedimentary processes; paleoclimate reconstructions; African climate; grain-size analysis; end-member modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to the recent IPCC report, Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to future climate change, with widespread and uncertain impacts on African environments and society, making the need to better understand the African environmental system clear. As a contribution towards a better understanding of the past and future of African environments, this Special Issue aims to compile studies about climate and environmental variabilities throughout Africa on various time scales, in the present, past, and future. We invite studies from marine and continental records, using any kind of archive and proxy data, such as sedimentological records, tree rings, speleothems, ice cores, fossil pollen, and modern monitoring data and modeling studies.

Dr. Inka Meyer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Paleoenvironment
  • Paleoclimate reconstructions
  • African climate
  • Climate change and impact

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Related Special Issues

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 4603 KiB  
Article
A Phytolith Supported Biosphere-Hydrosphere Predictive Model for Southern Ethiopia: Insights into Paleoenvironmental Changes and Human Landscape Preferences since the Last Glacial Maximum
by Markus L. Fischer, Felix Bachofer, Chad L. Yost, Ines J. E. Bludau, Christian Schepers, Verena Foerster, Henry Lamb, Frank Schäbitz, Asfawossen Asrat, Martin H. Trauth and Annett Junginger
Geosciences 2021, 11(10), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11100418 - 8 Oct 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3910
Abstract
During the past 25 ka, southern Ethiopia has undergone tremendous climatic changes, from dry and relatively cold during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 25–18 ka) to the African Humid Period (AHP, 15–5 ka), and back to present-day dry conditions. As a contribution to [...] Read more.
During the past 25 ka, southern Ethiopia has undergone tremendous climatic changes, from dry and relatively cold during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 25–18 ka) to the African Humid Period (AHP, 15–5 ka), and back to present-day dry conditions. As a contribution to better understand the effects of climate change on vegetation and lakes, we here present a new Predictive Vegetation Model that is linked with a Lake Balance Model and available vegetation-proxy records from southern Ethiopia including a new phytolith record from the Chew Bahir basin. We constructed a detailed paleo-landcover map of southern Ethiopia during the LGM, AHP (with and without influence of the Congo Air Boundary) and the modern-day potential natural landcover. Compared to today, we observe a 15–20% reduction in moisture availability during the LGM with widespread open landscapes and only few remaining forest refugia. We identify 25–40% increased moisture availability during the AHP with prevailing forests in the mid-altitudes and indications that modern anthropogenic landcover change has affected the water balance. In comparison with existing archaeological records, we find that human occupations tend to correspond with open landscapes during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in southern Ethiopia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate and Environmental Change of Africa)
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21 pages, 5020 KiB  
Article
Hydrochemistry and Diatom Assemblages on the Humpata Plateau, Southwestern Angola
by Elena Robakiewicz, Daniela de Matos, Jeffery R. Stone and Annett Junginger
Geosciences 2021, 11(9), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090359 - 25 Aug 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3121
Abstract
Diatoms, a common siliceous alga, are effective paleoclimate and pollution indicators. They have been used in northern, eastern, and southern Africa as such because of well-documented ecologies of many taxa. In southwestern Africa, however, the country of Angola lacks similar modern assemblage studies. [...] Read more.
Diatoms, a common siliceous alga, are effective paleoclimate and pollution indicators. They have been used in northern, eastern, and southern Africa as such because of well-documented ecologies of many taxa. In southwestern Africa, however, the country of Angola lacks similar modern assemblage studies. To close this gap, modern diatoms were sampled across four water bodies on the Humpata Plateau in southwestern Angola in the dry season of July 2019, with in-situ measurements of pH, conductivity, and total dissolved solids and laboratory analysis of cations and anions. This research concludes that bedrock determines local hydrochemistry. In addition, this exploratory study finds that diatoms in southwestern Angola can infer relative conductivities and trophic levels, but limited data hinder interpretations of diatom ecological preferences of pH, temperature, alkalinity, ions, and pollution, requiring further analyses. Such research is beneficial for both African diatomists interested in using accurate transfer functions across Africa to reconstruct paleoclimates as well as local communities and hydrologists interested in understanding water chemistry and pollution, given that these studied sites are vital water resources for local communities on the Humpata Plateau. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate and Environmental Change of Africa)
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