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Earth's precession cycle and Quaternary climatic change in tropical Africa

Abstract

High abundances of the freshwater diatom Melosira spp., reflecting eolian input from dry lake beds in tropical Africa, occur in deep-sea sediments of the equatorial Atlantic at discrete times during the late Quaternary1,2. We report here an approximately 260 kyr record of Melosira accumulation in an equatorial Atlantic sediment core, and demonstrate significant influence of the Earth's precessional cycle on the climate of tropical Africa.

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Pokras, E., Mix, A. Earth's precession cycle and Quaternary climatic change in tropical Africa. Nature 326, 486–487 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/326486a0

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