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The Holocene
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Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of early-Holocene gastropods from Wadi Mansurab, north-central Sudan

Damien Ayliffe

Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005

Martin A.J. Williams

Mawson Graduate Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005

Fran Sheldon

Department of Zoology, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005

The 8500- to 7000-year-old shell-bearing sediments in shallow claypans near Wadi Mansurab in north-central Sudan appear to reflect a widespread and much wetter period in northeast Africa. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of the Wadi Mansurab gastropods reveals that the shell carbonate is highly depleted in 13C and 18O. The highly depleted oxygen isotopic composition is indicative of rainfall derived from a distant oceanic source. The highly negative nature of the oxygen isotopes indicates that the region had significantly less evaporation than today while the extreme variability in isotopic composition (up to 6-7{per thousand} PDB) is consist ent with a seasonal rainfall regime, characterized by a high degree of inter-annual variability. The dominance of semi-aquatic and swamp-dwelling gastropods over truly aquatic species implies that the region was probably a seasonally flooded grassplain similar to the toich-lands of south-central Sudan today. Our data support the inference that towards 8500-7000 BP there was a stronger southwest monsoon and an associated northward shift in the summer rainfall zone, which caused the Wadi Mansurab region in north-central Sudan to be season ally flooded during a wetter and possibly cooler period with lower rates of evapotranspiration. From 8500 to 7000 BP, lake levels were high elsewhere in northern Africa, suggesting a regionally wetter climate at that time.

Key Words: Early Holocene • stable isotopes • 13C • 18O • carbon • oxygen • freshwater mollusca • palaeoenviron ments • climatic change • Sudan • north-east Africa.

The Holocene, Vol. 6, No. 2, 157-169 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369600600203
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