Natural SciencesEarth SciencesEvolutionary BiologyClimatologyEvolutionary PaleontologyPaleoclimatologyClimate HistoryPaleoclimate ReconstructionPaleoclimate VariabilityPaleoclimatic ReconstructionPhylogenetic PaleobiologyQuaternary Climate ChangeAfrican PalaeoclimatologyGlacial CyclesInsolation ForcingLow-latitude InsolationOrbital PrecessionPleistocene Climate VariabilityPleistocene PaleoecologyPleistocene Speciation
Marine records of African climate variability document a shift toward more arid conditions after 2.8 million years ago (Ma), evidently resulting from remote forcing by cold North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures associated with the onset of Northern Hemisphere glacial cycles. African climate before 2.8 Ma was regulated by low-latitude insolation forcing of monsoonal climate due to Earth orbital precession. Major steps in the evolution of African hominids and other vertebrates are coincident with shifts to more arid, open conditions near 2.8 Ma, 1.7 Ma, and 1.0 Ma, suggesting that some Pliocene (Plio)-Pleistocene speciation events may have been climatically mediated.
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Sahel rainfall and worldwide sea temperatures, 1901–85
Chris K. Folland, T. N. Palmer, D. E. Parker · Nature · 1986 · 1.2K citations
On the structure and origin of major glaciation cycles 2. The 100,000‐year cycle
John Imbrie, Alfons Berger, E. A. Boyle et al. · Paleoceanography · 1993 · 1.1K citations