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Newfound ancient African megadroughts may have driven the evContact: Mari N. Jensen
mnjensen@email.arizona.edu
520-626-9635
University of Arizona
Newfound ancient African megadroughts may have driven the evolution of humans and fishes
| Quote: | From 135,000 to 90,000 years ago tropical Africa had megadroughts more extreme and widespread than any previously known for that region, according to new research.
Learning that now-lush tropical Africa was an arid scrubland during the early Late Pleistocene provides new insights into humans' migration out of Africa and the evolution of fishes in Africa's Great Lakes.
"Lake Malawi, one of the deepest lakes in the world, acts as a rain gauge," said lead scientist Andrew S. Cohen of The University of Arizona in Tucson. "The lake level dropped at least 600 meters (1,968 feet) -- an extraordinary amount of water lost from the lake. This tells us that it was much drier at that time." |
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/uoa-naa100407.php
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