Reconciliation of vegetation and climatic interpretations of pollen profiles and other regional records from the last 60 thousand years in the Savanna Biome of Southern Africa

Long environmental proxy records are very scarce in semi-dry continental areas and often those available present conflicting interpretations. However, more in-depth investigation of apparent contradictions, can address these problems. For example, comparison of the upper parts of pollen and sediment sequences from the Tswaing Crater and Wonderkrater spring (South Africa) and isotopes in a speleothem at Lobatse Cave (Botswana) from the Savanna Biome establishes a basis for understanding of long-term regional environmental processes in central Southern Africa over the last 60 ka. The different proxies for the vegetation can hypothetically be reconciled on condition that the chronologies on which they are based and environmental controls are firm. We discuss the ratio of woody elements, under-storey herb-cover and the vegetation's general C4/C3 status in the central savanna region, in relation to seasonal rainfall and temperature variations and long-term climate forcing.