Late quaternary vegetation and climate of the Sahel

Pollen and phytogeographic evidence provides a vegetational history of the Sahel for the period 0–18,000 yr B.P. The zonal vegetation fluctuated latitudinally and its most extreme positions occurred at 18,000 and 8500 yr B.P. The first involved a southward shift of the Sahelian wooded grassland to 10°N under the arid conditions of the last glacial maximum. The second change shows a rapid northward migration of humid vegetation: Guinean elements reach 16°N and Sahelo-Sudanian elements extend to the southern margin of the modern Sahara (21°N) when the Atlantic monsoon flux increased. In the middle Holocene the extensive spread of Sudanian elements into the modern Sahelian zone suggests the appearance of a markedly dry season. The modern Sahelian semiarid conditions appeared abruptly at 2000 yr B.P.