Articles | Volume 22, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2621-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2621-2025
Research article
 | 
06 Jun 2025
Research article |  | 06 Jun 2025

Reconstructing central African hydroclimate over the past century using freshwater bivalve shell geochemistry

Zita Kelemen, David P. Gillikin, and Steven Bouillon

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Cited articles

Abell, P. I. and Hoelzmann, P.: Holocene palaeoclimates in northwestern Sudan: stable isotope studies on molluscs, Global Planet. Change, 26, 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8181(00)00030-8, 2000. 
Abell, P. I., Amegashitsi, L., and Ochumba, P. B.: The shells of Etheria elliptica as recorders of seasonality at Lake Victoria, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 119, 215–219, https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(95)00019-4, 1996. 
Alsdorf, D., Beighley, E., Laraque, A., Lee, H., Tshimanga, R., O'Loughlin, F., Mahé, G., Dinga, B., Moukandi, G., and Spencer, R. G.: Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin, Rev. Geophys., 54, 378–409, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016RG000517, 2016. 
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We analysed the C and O stable isotope composition (δ13C, δ18O) across the growth axis of museum-archived and recent Chambardia wissmanni shells from the Oubangui River (Congo basin) covering sections of the past ~120 years. Recent shells showed a much wider range of δ18O values compared to historical specimens, consistent with the suggestion that dry periods in the upper Congo basin have become more extreme in recent times and highlighting the potential of this species to reconstruct hydroclimatic conditions.
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