Vegetation changes over palaeo-time scales in Africa

Abstract

It is now evident, from the numerous palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental studies that have been carried out worldwide, that the temporal climatic and environmental changes characteristic of the low lati-tude regions during the late Quaternary and other earlier periods can be linked to a combination of earthextrinsic and earth-intrinsic climate-forcing mechanisms, e.g. changes in the orbital parameters and the resultant changes in the radiation balance and hence earth surface temperatures, changes in sea surface temperatures and ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns, high latitude meltwater inputs particularly in