PAGES South Africa

national science highlight: Tswaing impact crater record

The results of a proxy rainfall reconstruction based on sedi-mentological parameters (Partridge et al., 1997) shows clear precessional periodicity which allowed the rainfall record to be tuned to fluctuations in January insolation for the period beyond 14C dating range (center). The recovery of two new cores has been funded by the GeoForschungs Zentrum, Potsdam. The base of the sequence has a fission track age of ~ 200 ka. These are being analyzed in detail in a joint programme of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, GFZ and University College, London

Partridge, T.C., DeMenocal, P.B., Lorentz, S.A. Paiker, M.J. and Vogel, J.C., 1997. Orbital forcing of climate over South Africa: A 200 000-year rainfall record from the Pretoria Saltpan. Quaternary Science Reviews, 16, 1125-1133.