January 2024: publication Geosciences

Stable oxygen isotopes of crocodilian tooth enamel allow tracking Plio-Pleistocene evolution of freshwater environments and climate in the Shungura Formation (Turkana Depression, Ethiopia)

This study adopts a new approach describing palaeohydrology and palaeoclimates based on the interpretation of stable oxygen isotopes (δ¹⁸Op) recorded in fossil crocodilian teeth. They represent an archive of prime interest for tracking freshwater palaeoenvironmental change, applicable to many palaeontological localities in the world: crocodilian teeth are abundant in continental basins and have been widely distributed since their diversification during the Mesozoic; the enamel phosphate is resistant to diagenesis and retains its original isotopic composition over geological timescales; and their δ¹⁸Op mainly relies on that of the crocodilian’s home waterbody (δ¹⁸Ow), which in turn reflects waterbody types, regional climate, and evaporation conditions. This study presents the first application of this theoretical interpretative model to the Shungura Formation (Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia), a key witness of the important environmental change in eastern Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene that impacted the evolution of regional faunas, including humans. In this complex and variable environmental context, the δ¹⁸Op of coexisting crocodilians allows for the fingerprinting of the diversity of aquatic environments they had access to at a local scale. This study sheds light on two important results: the δ¹⁸Op of crocodilian teeth (1) indicates stable aquatic environments in the northern Turkana Depression from 2.97 to ca. 2.57 Ma but a decline in local waterbodies diversity after 2.32 Ma, suggesting increasing aridity, and (2) shows, like previous geochemical studies on palaeosols and bivalves in the area, a significant increase in δ¹⁸Ow from 2.97 to ca. 1.14 Ma, likely due to the shifting air stream convergence zones between the West African and Indian Summer Monsoons and/or reduced rainfall over the Ethiopian Highlands.