Sacred Lake, Mt. Kenya 1800 Year Leaf Wax Deuterium and d13C Data Konecky, B.L.; Russell, J.M.; Huang, Y.; Vuille, M.; Cohen, L.; Street-Perrott, F.A. Konecky, B.L. Russell, J.M. Huang, Y. Vuille, M. Cohen, L. Street-Perrott, F.A. Monsoon hydrology earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (notes,null,null,null,null,paleolimnology,null,null,C,source) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (delta 13C,C28 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VPDB,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (depth,null,null,centimeter,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (delta 2H,C28 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VSMOW,null,paleolimnology,averaged,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (delta 2H,C28 n-alkanoic acid,one standard deviation,per mil VSMOW,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,standard deviation of triplicate measurements) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (age,null,null,calendar year before present,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (delta 2H,C28 n-alkanoic acid,range,per mil VSMOW,null,paleolimnology,null,null,N,difference of duplicate measurements) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (delta 13C,C28 n-alkanoic acid,null,per mil VPDB,null,paleolimnology,corrected,null,N,corrected for Suess effect) earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology earth science/paleoclimate/paleolimnology (Sacred Lake GDGT>LATITUDE .0833>LONGITUDE 37.5333) Glacial and early Holocene-age sediments from lakes on Mt. Kenya have documented strong responses of montane hydrology, ecosystems, and carbon cycling to past changes in temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, little is known about climate and ecosystem variations on Mt. Kenya during the Common Era (the past ~2000 years), despite mounting evidence for significant climate changes in the East African lowlands during the past millennium and recent observations of alpine glacier retreat in the East African highlands. We present a new, high-resolution record of the hydrogen and carbon isotopic composition of terrestrial plant wax compounds (dDwax, d13Cwax) preserved in the sediments of Sacred Lake from 200C.E. to the end of the 20th century. We find that Mt. Kenya's climate was highly variable during the past 1800 years. Droughts at Sacred Lake around ~200C.E., 700C.E., and 1100C.E. align with similar droughts in central Kenya and Uganda/Congo, indicating that failures of both the Indian and Atlantic monsoons caused widespread drought throughout equatorial East Africa during the early Common Era. In contrast, dry and wet periods at Sacred Lake during the past 500 years show meridional and zonal contrasts with other sites in East Africa, suggesting strong spatial heterogeneity, possibly due to independent waxing and waning of the Atlantic and Indian monsoons. Pronounced drying after ~1870C.E. suggests that the current dry phase observed at Sacred Lake may have begun prior to the 20th century, around the time when the retreat of Mt. Kenya's glaciers was first observed by European explorers. Mt. Kenya's vegetation responded strongly to these recent climate changes, highlighting the particular sensitivity of tropical montane climate and ecosystems to regional and global climate patterns, and underscoring the critical need to understand potential impacts of future climate change scenarios on this highly sensitive region. STUDY NOTES: Leaf wax stable isotope (dD and d13C) from sediments collected in Sacred Lake, Mt. Kenya, covering the past 1800 years. Dates on samples from Huang et al., 1999 have been updated to the age model of Konecky et al., 2014. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Konecky, B.L. Investigator : Russell, J.M. Investigator : Huang, Y. Investigator : Vuille, M. Investigator : Cohen, L. Investigator : Street-Perrott, F.A. 2015-01-28 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/17919 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/eastafrica/sacred2014d13c.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/eastafrica/sacred2014dd.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/eastafrica/sacred2014d13c.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/eastafrica/sacred2014dd.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/17919 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/eastafrica/sacred2014d13c.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/paleolimnology/eastafrica/sacred2014dd.txt Bronwen Konecky, James Russell, Yongsong Huang, Mathias Vuille, Lily Cohen, F. Alayne Street-Perrott2014Impact of monsoons, temperature, and CO2 on the rainfall and ecosystems of Mt. Kenya during the Common EraPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology39617-2510.1016/j.palaeo.2013.12.037http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018213005749 Yongsong Huang, F. Alayne Street-Perrott, R. Alan Perrott, Pierre Metzger, Geoffrey Eglinton2015Glacial-interglacial environmental changes inferred from molecular and compound-specific d13C analyses of sediments from Sacred Lake, Mt. KenyaGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta6391383-140410.1016/S0016-7037(00)00445-2http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703700004452 START YEAR: 113 AD * END YEAR: 1985 AD 37.5333 .0833 37.5333 .0833