Late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile

Lamb, Henry F.; Bates, Richard; Coombes, Paul Melor Vernon; Marshall, Michael; Umer, Mohammed; Davies, Sarah J.; Dejen, Eshete

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.11.020

Cited by 168 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…An ancient maximum lake level was assumed to exist 120 m above the current lake level. Based on Lamb et al (2007), we can conclude that such a lake should be at least dated to 15,000 BP. Plotting this assumed level on an ASTER DEM, however, revealed that the present basin cannot support such a high lake level, as the lake would overflow at several locations.…”

Section: Processesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Geomorphology of the Lake Tana basin, Ethiopia

et al. 2013

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The geomorphological map of the Lake Tana basin (15,077 km 2 , Nile basin, Ethiopia) presented in this paper was prepared from fieldwork data, maps and satellite data that were processed with a geographic information system (GIS). It contains four major components: (i) hydrography, (ii) morphology and morphometry, (iii) materials and (iv) processes at a scale of 1:500,000. The geomorphological setting of the basin consists of lavas that erupted from fissures or (shield) volcanoes during the Tertiary and Quaternary eras, were uplifted and eroded primarily by water. Lake Tana emerged through a combination of a lava barrier blocking the Blue Nile to the south and by epirogenetic subsidence. When the lake reached its maximum extent, extensive lacustrine plain (e.g. Fogera and Dembia plains) were created, river valleys and basins were filled with sediment and higher lying topography was eroded. Today, the lake plays a lesser role in landscape formation because of a decreased extent (3041 km 2 ) compared to the ancient maximum (6514 km 2 ). Dominant processes today are fluvial and subaerial. Recent (1886Recent ( -2010 changes in the lake coastline are small with the exception of the delta formed by Gilgel Abay, which has increased disproportionally over the last 15 years. This indicates a large input of sediment which is mainly due to rivers flowing through Quaternary lavas. The recent sediment input increase is most probably related to human induced land-use changes.

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Section: Processesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Geomorphology of the Lake Tana basin, Ethiopia

et al. 2013

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“…This northern route by no means offered a permanently open or easy pathway of dispersal. Moreover, the Nile appears to have had a much reduced flow of water intermittently during the Pleistocene, notably during the earlier part of the Pleistocene and during the last glacial maximum (Lamb et al, 2007). Nevertheless, by convention this northern route, whether via the Nile and the Mediterranean coast, or more directly between the Red Sea coast and the Jordan Valley via the Gulf of Suez and the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba, has been assumed to be the principal artery of contact between Africa and western Asia, an assumption reinforced by the abundant finds of Paleolithic archeology and African species of mammalian fauna in the Levant and early dates in the 1.8-1.4 Mya range at sites such as Ubeidiyah (Tchernov, 1992;Ron and Levi, 2001), and further north, in the Caucasus, at Dmanisi at 1.7 Mya (Lordkipanidze et al, 2000).…”

Section: Geographical Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals

Bailey

2009

The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia

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“…Some model simulations of northern hemisphere climatic changes associated with HS-1 indicate a southward drift of up to 10 latitudinal degrees (2). Most of northern Africa became unusually dry around 17-16 thousand calendar years ago (ka) during the HS-1 ice-rafting peak of Heinrich Event 1 (H1), including the Sahara and Sahel (5), Ethiopia (6), and the Red Sea region (7), as did most of southern Asia (8)(9)(10)(11)Figs. 1 and 2).…”

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confidence: 99%