A temperature index in a Late Quaternary sequence at Wonderkrater, South Africa

Wonderkrater is a Late Quaternary archaeological site in the Limpopo Province of South Africa1, and has a high-resolution Late Quaternary pollen sequence2-4. An initial multivariate analysis of pollen spectra facilitated the quantification of a temperature index (SSF1) for two borehole sequences.5 A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:South African Journal of Science 2018-05, Vol.114 (5-6), p.13-14
Main Author: Thackeray, J. Francis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Age-depth relationships
Analysis
Archaeology
Boreholes
Calibration
Cooling
Ecosystems
Historic sites
Hypotheses
Multivariate analysis
Northern Hemisphere
Pollen
Pollen spectra
Radiocarbon dates
Standard deviation
Temperature effects
Younger Dryas
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Summary:Wonderkrater is a Late Quaternary archaeological site in the Limpopo Province of South Africa1, and has a high-resolution Late Quaternary pollen sequence2-4. An initial multivariate analysis of pollen spectra facilitated the quantification of a temperature index (SSF1) for two borehole sequences.5 An attempt to calibrate the SSF1 temperature indices was made by Thackeray6. Scott et al.7 and Thackeray and Scott8 identified the ‘Younger Dryas’ cooling event in Borehole 3. This palaeoclimatic phenomenon is generally known in the northern hemisphere, dated between 10 600 and 12 900 BP (calibrated years). In this study, palaeotemperature estimates from the initial multivariate study5 are re-examined in the context of calibrated radiocarbon dates7 in order to make comparisons with dates for the Younger Dryas in the northern hemisphere.
ISSN:0038-2353
1996-7489
DOI:10.17159/sajs.2018/a0268