Vegetation and sedimentation in the Lake Edward Basin, Uganda-Congo during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene

New palynological and sedimentological data obtained from the basal 3 m of core E96-2P from Lake Edward, Uganda-Congo record conditions wetter than present in the Edward basin from similar to11000 to 6700 yr BP, in phase with other climate and vegetation records of northern hemispheric East Africa. Dominant pollen taxa include Celtis spp., Alchornea spp., Olea spp., and Moraceae indicating a moist semi-deciduous tropical forest. More xeric indicators such as Amaranthaceae and Asteraceae together with Poaceae comprise less than 5% of the pollen sum throughout this interval as compared with between 44 and 50% during a lake lowstand at similar to2000 cal yr BP and at the core top ( near modern). The differences between these two assemblages suggest a similar to25 to 60% increase in annual precipitation during the early- to mid-Holocene as compared to modern (1500-2000 vs. 1200 mm/yr today). Early Holocene sediments in E96-2P are composed of laminated diatom oozes with moderately high total sulfur concentrations (2.8-4.7%) and no authigenic calcite, also indicative of conditions wetter than present. Between similar to9000 and 6700 yr BP, palynological and sedimentary proxies indicate sub-millennial-scale events related to changes in riverine discharge and runoff in the Edward basin. We attribute the variability in runoff, and hence precipitation, to Holocene variability in Indian or Atlantic Ocean SSTs or to shifts in the relative contribution of Indian and Atlantic moisture sources to the western Rift of equatorial Africa.