Continuous vegetation record of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (South Africa) covering the past 300 thousand years (IODP U1479)

Abstract

Abstract. The flora of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) of South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot of global significance, and its archaeological record has contributed substantially to the understanding of modern human origins. For both reasons, the climate and vegetation history of south-western South Africa is of interest to numerous fields. Currently known paleo-environmental records cover the Holocene, the last glacial-interglacial transition and parts of the last glaciation but do not encompass a full glacial-interglacial cycle. To obtain a continuous vegetation record of the last Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles, we studied pollen, spores and micro-charcoal of deep-sea sediments from IODP Site U1479 retrieved from SW of Cape Town. We compare our palynological results of the Pleistocene with previously published results of Pliocene material from the same site. We find that the vegetation of the GCFR, in particular Fynbos and Afrotemperate forest, respond to precessional forcing of climate. The micro-charcoal record confirms the importance of fires in the Fynbos vegetation. Ericaceae-rich and Asteraceae-rich types of Fynbos could extend on the western part of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (PAP), which emerged during periods of low sea-level of the Pleistocene.