Stratigraphic evidence of quaternary climatic change at Echo Cave, transvaal, and a paleoclimatic record for Botswana and northeastern South Africa

doi:10.1016/S0341-8162(82)80021-0

CATENA

Volume 9, Issues 1–2, 1982, Pages 343-351

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0341-8162(82)80021-0 Get rights and content

Summary

Changes in climate at Echo Cave during the last 35,000 years caused ground water levels to fluctuate by > 29 m. There was little speleothem deposition during dry climatic phases because of a lack of moisture and only localized deposition during very wet phases when water levels rose and most cave passages were flooded. The most massive speleothems were laid down in transitional periods between very wet and dry conditions when water levels were low enough for many passages to be air filled and the climate wet enough for rapid deposition of travertine. Data from Echo Cave and from other sites in Botswana and northeastern South Africa suggest that there were three cooler and wetter phases during the Holocene at 9,700–7,600, 4,300–2,200, and 1,700–400 yr B.P.; that the Late Glacial climate (12,000–10,000 yr B.P.) and Middle Pleniglacial (38,000–30,000 yr B.P.) was cooler and wetter than today but warmer and drier than the first 12,000 years (30,000–18,000 yr B.P.) of the Upper Pleniglacial.

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Citation Excerpt :
The cave system is found at an elevation of 1 036 m above sea level, at the head of the Malapong valley, and is one of the most extensive cave systems found in the Malmani dolomite (Marker and Brook, 1970). Echo Caves are phreatic caves located beneath a dolomite spur that is the result of two headwaters of the Malapong River, a tributary of the Ohrigstad River (Brook, 1982). Geologically, the Mogaba area consists of Pretoria shales and quartzites, which overlie the dolomite series (Marker and Brook, 1970).
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Stratigraphic evidence of quaternary climatic change at Echo Cave, transvaal, and a paleoclimatic record for Botswana and northeastern South Africa

Summary

Quaternary Research

CATENA

Dating and context of rock engravings in southern Africa

Science

Archeo-sedimentological sequences from the sub-montane interior of South Africa: Rose Cottage Cave, Heuningsneskrans, and Bushman Rock Shelter

The paleoclimatic significance of caves and adjacent landforms in western Ngamiland, Botswana

Geographical Journal