Scientific Drilling at Lake Tanganyika, Africa: A Transformative Record for Understanding Evolution in Isolation and the Biological History of the African Continent, University of Basel, 6–8 June 2016
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
85721, USA
Walter Salzburger
Zoologisches Institut, Universität Basel, 4051 Basel,
Switzerland
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Evan R. Collins, Troy M. Ferland, Isla S. Castañeda, R. Bernhart Owen, Tim K. Lowenstein, Andrew S. Cohen, Robin W. Renaut, Molly D. O'Beirne, and Josef P. Werne
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Archaeal molecular fossils (tetraethers) have been used around the globe to track changes in climate. Little is known about archaeal response to environmental change in soda lakes, especially lakes influenced by hydrothermal inputs. For the first time in Lake Magadi, we show tetraethers tracking abrupt changes in methane and non-methane producers due to hydrothermal inputs to the lake. This study provides insight into the role of hydrothermal water sources and methane production in soda lakes.
James M. Russell, Philip Barker, Andrew Cohen, Sarah Ivory, Ishmael Kimirei, Christine Lane, Melanie Leng, Neema Maganza, Michael McGlue, Emma Msaky, Anders Noren, Lisa Park Boush, Walter Salzburger, Christopher Scholz, Ralph Tiedemann, Shaidu Nuru, and the Lake Tanganyika Scientific Drilling Project (TSDP) Consortium
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Our planet experienced enormous environmental changes in the last 10 million years. Lake Tanganyika is the oldest lake in Africa and its sediments comprise the most continuous terrestrial environmental record for this time period in the tropics. This workshop report identifies key research objectives in rift processes, evolutionary biology, geomicrobiology, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, paleoanthropology, and geochronology that could be addressed by drilling this globally important site.
Andrew Cohen, Colleen Cassidy, Ryan Crow, Jordon Bright, Laura Crossey, Rebecca Dorsey, Brian Gootee, Kyle House, Keith Howard, Karl Karlstrom, and Philip Pearthree
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This paper summarizes a workshop held in Parker, AZ, USA, to discuss planned scientific drilling in the Miocene(?) or early Pliocene Bouse Formation, a controversial deposit (of lacustrine, marine, or some hybrid origin) found in the lower Colorado River valley. The drilling project is intended to address this controversy as well as shed light on Pliocene climates of southwestern North America during an important period of past climate change.
A. Cohen, C. Campisano, R. Arrowsmith, A. Asrat, A. K. Behrensmeyer, A. Deino, C. Feibel, A. Hill, R. Johnson, J. Kingston, H. Lamb, T. Lowenstein, A. Noren, D. Olago, R. B. Owen, R. Potts, K. Reed, R. Renaut, F. Schäbitz, J.-J. Tiercelin, M. H. Trauth, J. Wynn, S. Ivory, K. Brady, R. O'Grady, J. Rodysill, J. Githiri, J. Russell, V. Foerster, R. Dommain, S. Rucina, D. Deocampo, J. Russell, A. Billingsley, C. Beck, G. Dorenbeck, L. Dullo, D. Feary, D. Garello, R. Gromig, T. Johnson, A. Junginger, M. Karanja, E. Kimburi, A. Mbuthia, T. McCartney, E. McNulty, V. Muiruri, E. Nambiro, E. W. Negash, D. Njagi, J. N. Wilson, N. Rabideaux, T. Raub, M. J. Sier, P. Smith, J. Urban, M. Warren, M. Yadeta, C. Yost, and B. Zinaye
Sci. Dril., 21, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-1-2016, 2016
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An initial description of the scientific rationale, drilling and core handling, and initial core description activities of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP). HSPDP is a large international consortium whose objective is to collect cores from lakebeds in proximity to important fossil early human fossil sites in eastern Africa, to better understand the environmental and climatic context of human evolution.
G. S. Soreghan and A. S. Cohen
Sci. Dril., 16, 63–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-63-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-63-2013, 2013
Evan R. Collins, Troy M. Ferland, Isla S. Castañeda, R. Bernhart Owen, Tim K. Lowenstein, Andrew S. Cohen, Robin W. Renaut, Molly D. O'Beirne, and Josef P. Werne
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3006, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3006, 2024
Short summary
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Archaeal molecular fossils (tetraethers) have been used around the globe to track changes in climate. Little is known about archaeal response to environmental change in soda lakes, especially lakes influenced by hydrothermal inputs. For the first time in Lake Magadi, we show tetraethers tracking abrupt changes in methane and non-methane producers due to hydrothermal inputs to the lake. This study provides insight into the role of hydrothermal water sources and methane production in soda lakes.
James M. Russell, Philip Barker, Andrew Cohen, Sarah Ivory, Ishmael Kimirei, Christine Lane, Melanie Leng, Neema Maganza, Michael McGlue, Emma Msaky, Anders Noren, Lisa Park Boush, Walter Salzburger, Christopher Scholz, Ralph Tiedemann, Shaidu Nuru, and the Lake Tanganyika Scientific Drilling Project (TSDP) Consortium
Sci. Dril., 27, 53–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-27-53-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-27-53-2020, 2020
Short summary
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Our planet experienced enormous environmental changes in the last 10 million years. Lake Tanganyika is the oldest lake in Africa and its sediments comprise the most continuous terrestrial environmental record for this time period in the tropics. This workshop report identifies key research objectives in rift processes, evolutionary biology, geomicrobiology, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, paleoanthropology, and geochronology that could be addressed by drilling this globally important site.
Andrew Cohen, Colleen Cassidy, Ryan Crow, Jordon Bright, Laura Crossey, Rebecca Dorsey, Brian Gootee, Kyle House, Keith Howard, Karl Karlstrom, and Philip Pearthree
Sci. Dril., 26, 59–67, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-26-59-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-26-59-2019, 2019
Short summary
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This paper summarizes a workshop held in Parker, AZ, USA, to discuss planned scientific drilling in the Miocene(?) or early Pliocene Bouse Formation, a controversial deposit (of lacustrine, marine, or some hybrid origin) found in the lower Colorado River valley. The drilling project is intended to address this controversy as well as shed light on Pliocene climates of southwestern North America during an important period of past climate change.
A. Cohen, C. Campisano, R. Arrowsmith, A. Asrat, A. K. Behrensmeyer, A. Deino, C. Feibel, A. Hill, R. Johnson, J. Kingston, H. Lamb, T. Lowenstein, A. Noren, D. Olago, R. B. Owen, R. Potts, K. Reed, R. Renaut, F. Schäbitz, J.-J. Tiercelin, M. H. Trauth, J. Wynn, S. Ivory, K. Brady, R. O'Grady, J. Rodysill, J. Githiri, J. Russell, V. Foerster, R. Dommain, S. Rucina, D. Deocampo, J. Russell, A. Billingsley, C. Beck, G. Dorenbeck, L. Dullo, D. Feary, D. Garello, R. Gromig, T. Johnson, A. Junginger, M. Karanja, E. Kimburi, A. Mbuthia, T. McCartney, E. McNulty, V. Muiruri, E. Nambiro, E. W. Negash, D. Njagi, J. N. Wilson, N. Rabideaux, T. Raub, M. J. Sier, P. Smith, J. Urban, M. Warren, M. Yadeta, C. Yost, and B. Zinaye
Sci. Dril., 21, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-1-2016, 2016
Short summary
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An initial description of the scientific rationale, drilling and core handling, and initial core description activities of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP). HSPDP is a large international consortium whose objective is to collect cores from lakebeds in proximity to important fossil early human fossil sites in eastern Africa, to better understand the environmental and climatic context of human evolution.
G. S. Soreghan and A. S. Cohen
Sci. Dril., 16, 63–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-63-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-63-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Location/Setting: Lake | Subject: Other research disciplines | Geoprocesses: Global climate change
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Cited articles
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Salzburger, W., Van Bocxlaer, B., and Cohen, A. S.: The ecology and evolution of the African Great Lakes and their faunas, Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 45, 519–545, 2014.
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Tierney, J. E., Russell, J. M., Huang, Y., Sinninghe Damsté, J. S., Hopmans, E. C., and Cohen, A. S.: Northern Hemisphere Controls on Tropical Southeast African Climate During the Past 60,000 Years, Science, 322, 252–255, 2008.
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Wilke, T., Wagner, B., Van Bocxlaer, B., Albrecht, C., Ariztegui, D., Delicado, D., Francke, A., Harzhauser, M., Hauffe, T., Holtvoeth, J., Just, J., Leng, M. J., Levkov, Z., Penkman, K., Sadori, L., Skinner, A., Stelbrink, B., Vogel, H., Wesselingh, F., and Wonik, T.: Scientific drilling projects in ancient lakes: Integrating geological and biological histories, Glob. Planet. Change, 143, 118–151, 2016.
Short summary
A workshop was held in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss the scientific opportunities for evolutionary biology, paleobiology and paleoecology of a drilling project at Lake Tanganyika, one of the oldest and most biodiverse lakes on Earth. A record of the numerous endemic organisms collected from the lake coupling body fossils, environmental history and potentially aDNA or ancient protein records would be transformative for understanding evolution in isolation and the biogeographic history of Africa.
A workshop was held in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss the scientific opportunities for...