Use of the geochemical and biological sedimentary record in establishing palaeo-environments and climate change in the Lake Ngami basin, NW Botswana

Diagenesis in Okavango fan and adjacent dune deposits with implications for the record of palaeo-environmental change in Makgadikgadi–Okavango–Zambezi basin, northern Botswana

“…Kinabo et al, 2007). Additional evidence for this late stage tectonic activity includes crustal sagging and strandline bifurcation along the inner MOZ basin margins (Gumbricht et al, 2004;Huntsman-Mapila et al, 2006). The present day fan configuration appears to be the result of discharge into the inner MOZ basin via the 'Panhandle' leading to floodplain and island deposition.…”

“…Most previous palaeo-environmental work in the MOZ basin has focused either on Kalahari dune formation (Grove, 1969;Lancaster, 1986Lancaster, , 2000Thomas et al, 2000) or on multiple palaeo-lake sequences which are dated to ca. 40 000 BP mainly based on 14 C ages (Cooke, 1980;Cooke and Verstappen, 1984;Thomas and Shaw, 2002;Thomas et al, 2003;Huntsman-Mapila et al, 2006). Periods of dune formation have been tentatively dated using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) (Stokes et al, 1997).…”

Origins of strandline duricrusts around the Makgadikgadi Pans (Botswana Kalahari) as deduced from their chemical and isotope composition

“…Carbonate rocks in general have attracted considerable attention in this regard with a number of researchers developing indicators for palaeo-temperature, salinity and weathering (e.g. Chilingar, 1963;Fairbridge, 1964;Huntsman-Mapila et al, 2006). A number of analyses are now available as a result of the increasing use of calcrete in geochemical prospecting (e.g.…”

Late quaternary moraines along the sekhokong range, eastern lesotho: contrasting the geomorphic history of north‐ and south‐facing slopes

“…It has previously been suggested that for small glaciers to have existed in the high Drakensberg, precipitation would have had to be greater than at present and snowblow from adjacent areas would not necessarily have contributed substantially to snow accumulation (Mills et al 2009). Suggested greater precipitation in the southern African region is reinforced through a growing body of literature from a variety of proxy data which support evidence for increased precipitation during phases of the last glacial period in southern Africa (Butzer et al 1973;Butzer 1984;Shaw and Thomas 1996;Meadows and Baxter 1999;Huntsman-Mapila et al 2006;Chase and Meadows 2007). In contrast to the south-facing slopes, the mobilisation of sediment through precipitation, ground seepage and snow-melt on north-facing slopes during the LGM may account for the general absence of identified pre-Holocene sediment on such slopes.…”