The origin of the forest-grassland mosaic of central Cameroon
What we learn from the isotopic geochemistry of soil organic matter
Bibliographic Data
The end of the Holocene Humid Period was characterized by the massive collapse of forest ecosystems in central Africa. Was this large-scale environmental crisis dated between 3300 and 2500 years BP at the origin of the present-day wooded-grassland/forest mosaic of central Cameroon? Here we present carbon isotope data on soil organic matter collected from 29 sites from this area, including the Grassfield plateaus, with the aim of characterizing this environmental crisis and discussing the origin of the present-day landscape. 14 C data on total soil organic matter and charcoal fragments show that the organic matter in these soils originates from the Holocene. In our forest sites, the δ 13 C profiles do not show any marked alteration of the forest cover throughout the Holocene. Discrete traces of forest expansion or retreat are observed only punctually at the forest margins. In the wooded-grassland/forest mosaic zone, the environmental crisis was of reduced amplitude. In the present grassland and wooded grassland areas, there was no true forest during the lower to middle Holocene, but a markedly more tree-covered landscape. The timing of this crisis revealed by our 14 C measurements, although only indicative at this stage, suggests that it occurred earlier at higher altitudes than in the lowlands due to marked topographic relief favoring drainage along the slopes. These results fit a climatic rather than anthropogenic origin of the vegetation opening in this region
Earth science · Geography · Grassland · Holocene · Organic matter · Physical geography · Vegetation (pathology · Environmental Science · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Geology · Paleontology
Seasonality change and the third millennium BP rainforest crisis in southern Cameroon (Central Africa)
Late Holocene Paleoclimatic Changes in Western Central Africa Inferred from Mineral Abundance in Dated Sediments from Lake Ossa (Southwest Cameroon)
Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period
Stable Isotopes in Ecosystem Studies
Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum
Past tree cover of the Congo Basin recovered by phytoliths and δ13C along soil profiles
Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in norteastern Brazi inferred from polen,, charcoal and carboon isotope records
High spatial resolution of late-Holocene human activities in the moist forests of central Africa using soil charcoal and charred botanical remains
The carbon isotope record in soils along a forest-cerrado ecosystem transect
Middle to Late Holocene Paleoclimatic Change and the Early Bantu Expansion in the Rain Forests of Western Central Africa
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |