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Science 13 August 1982:
Vol. 217. no. 4560, pp. 629 - 633
DOI: 10.1126/science.217.4560.629
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Articles

Great Sand Sea and Selima Sand Sheet, Eastern Sahara: Geochronology of Desertification

C. VANCE HAYNES JR. 1

1 Department of Anthropology and Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721

The relation of playa sediments and associated archeological sites with longitudinal dunes allows estimation of ages for the two uppermost strata of the Great Sand Sea. Active dune formation corresponds with interpluvial periods of hyperaridity; dune stability corresponds with semiarid pluvial periods. Archeological sites associated with truncated paleosols in the Selima Sand Sheet suggest a similar climatic relation and indicate that the isohyets of central Sudan shifted at least 400 kilometers northward during the peak of pluvials.

Submitted on November 16, 1981
Revised on April 1, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Large-Scale, Low-Amplitude Bedforms (Chevrons) in the Selima Sand Sheet, Egypt.
T. A. Maxwell, T. A. MAXWELL, and C. V. HAYNES JR. (1989)
Science 243, 1179-1182
   Abstract »    PDF »
Subsurface Valleys and Geoarcheology of the Eastern Sahara Revealed by Shuttle Radar.
J. F. McCauley, J. F. McCAULEY, G. G. SCHABER, C. S. BREED, M. J. GROLIER, C. V. HAYNES, B. ISSAWI, C. ELACHI, and R. BLOM (1982)
Science 218, 1004-1020
   Abstract »    PDF »


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