A deadly cocktail: How a drought around 4200 cal. yr BP caused mass mortality events at the infamous ‘dodo swamp’ in Mauritius
@article{deBoer2015ADC, title={A deadly cocktail: How a drought around 4200 cal. yr BP caused mass mortality events at the infamous ‘dodo swamp’ in Mauritius}, author={Erik J. de Boer and Maria Isabel Velez and Kenneth F. Rijsdijk and Perry G. B. de Louw and Tamara J. J. Vernimmen and Petra M. Visser and Rik Tjallingii and Henry Hooghiemstra}, journal={The Holocene}, year={2015}, volume={25}, pages={758 - 771} }
Analyses of pollen, diatoms, XRF geochemistry, and pigments provide a unique window into how an insular ecosystem in Mauritius responded to an extreme drought event 4200 years ago. We provide a reconstruction of regional vegetation change and local wetland development under influence of sea level rise and inferred climate change between 4400 and 4100 cal. yr BP. Our multi-proxy data evidence a severe drought between 4190 and 4130 cal. yr BP, which ultimately led to mass mortality of larger…
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