Sr Isotope Analysis of Lacustrine Fossils Reveals Paleohydrological Reorganisation in the Turkana Basin Through the Holocene.

Abstract:

Lake Turkana in northern Kenya is one of the largest lakes in the East African Rift System (EARS) that experienced significant climate-driven lake level variation over the Holocene. Arguably the most important feature of Holocene climate change in the EARS is the termination of the African Humid Period (AHP), that caused a ~70 meter lake level drop in Lake Turkana. The precise hydrological response to the termination of the AHP is potentially complex, because Lake Turkana lies at the cross roads of two large atmospheric convection systems; the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Congo Air Boundary (CAB). Shifting of these atmospheric systems around the end of the AHP dramatically rearranged spatial rainfall patterns in the Turkana Basin catchment, causing changes in relative runoff contributions from the different sub-catchments in the Turkana Basin.

We here present a Holocene Turkana lake water Sr-isotope reconstruction, based on the analysis of well-dated lacustrine ostracods and shells. This reconstruction reveals consistently high Sr isotope values for the early Holocene, followed by a remarkable drop of Sr isotope ratios around the AHP termination. We interpret this pattern to represent a westward shift in the location of the CAB, leading to the reduction and eventual shutdown of runoff contribution from the Chew Bahir Basin to the Turkana Basin at the end of the AHP.

The record demonstrates the exceptional suitability of Sr isotope data for this type of paleohydrological reconstructions. This is mainly due to the chemically conservative Sr-isotope mass balance in EARS lake systems, which is insensitive to environmental change at seasonal timescales that so often overprints the longer term climate signal in stable (oxygen and carbon) isotope records of these lakes. Furthermore, when Sr-isotope signatures of the contributing sub-catchments are known, the observed Sr isotope trends can be interpreted in terms of spatial shifts in climate driven runoff contribution to the lake.