Coastal Mozambique Research Articles

Paleosol-derived paleoclimate and paleoenvironment reconstruction of the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania: implications for faunal dispersal in the Miocene–Pliocene

ABSTRACT The East African Rift System records a key interval in the evolution of modern African ecosystems, documenting significant floral changes and faunal dispersals in the context of environmental shifts. To date, Miocene-to-Pliocene data from eastern Africa have been derived primarily from richly fossiliferous rift basins along the far north of the Eastern Branch of the rift, with more limited windows emerging from the Malawi Rift and more recently, coastal Mozambique. Here, we present the first quantitative paleoclimate data for the Miocene–Pliocene transition from the Western Branch of the East African Rift System, based on analyses of paleosols from the Rukwa Rift Basin. Paleosols derived from the fossiliferous late Miocene–early Pliocene lower Lake Beds succession in southwestern Tanzania preserve a shallow lacustrine setting grading into a system of alluvial fans and braided rivers with abundant floodplain deposits. Paleoclimate reconstructions using bulk geochemistry and clay mineralogy reveal a highly seasonal, semiarid, mesic climate during the late Miocene, with increased moisture availability in the early Pliocene resulting in a shift to subhumid conditions. Stable-carbon-isotope composition of pedogenic carbonates document a woodland/bushland/shrubland paleoenvironment across the Miocene–Pliocene transition. Results support the presence of Pliocene subhumid to humid habitats, dominated by woody vegetation offering shade, food, and water for faunal dispersal along an inland corridor connecting northern segments of the East African Rift System with southern Africa.

A petrographic approach to a newly found lignite outcrop from Bilene (Gaza, Mozambique)

A Pleistocene coastal lignite outcropping between the Muândeje Lake (Maputo Province) and Nhachuendezo Lake (Gaza Province) was recognized during geological mapping performed in 2009. However, these outcrops started to be investigated only in 2017 through paleontological fieldwork under the PaleoMoz Project (www.paleomoz.org). Here the chemical and petrographic compositions of a coal sample from this locality are reported. This new occurrence represents the first lignite occurrence from coastal Mozambique. The lignite is a Low Rank C (Lignite C) coal with a huminite reflectance of 0.248%. The results show that the lignite has high ash yield (46.5%, d); volatile matter (65.2%, daf), carbon (57.3%, daf), hydrogen (5.3%, daf) and nitrogen (2.3%, daf) contents are according to the rank of this coal; and, low total sulphur (1.8%, d). The coal is richer in huminite (86%) than liptinite (10%) and inertinite (4%). The maceral analysis indicates that lignite's peat precursor derived mainly from herbaceous plants and Botryococcus algae deposited in a topogenous mire (fen) under mesotrophic anoxic conditions. The water level remained above the paleomire's surface.

Slavery, antislavery, political rivalry and regional networks in East African waters, 1877-1883

This paper explores the dynamic between local, regional, and global forces for the Comoro Islands between the 1873 treaty mandating abolition of the export slave trade from Zanzibar to the imposition of French suzerainty over the Comoro Islands in 1886. Locally, my context is the Comoro Islands; regionally, it takes in the Mozambique Channel and wider southwest Indian Ocean; globally, it is the larger British imperial antislavery campaign in the western Indian Ocean. My paper seeks specifically to understand how the final years of political rivalry and slaving in this region affected matters both local and regional. By examining these events in some detail I hope also to reveal the economic and social networks that connected the people of the Comoros to each other, and beyond the Comoros to Zanzibar and coastal Mozambique. In the process, I illustrate how British abolitionism played out in the Comoros.

Strengthening Threatened Communities through Adaptation: Insights from Coastal Mozambique

Blythe, J. L., G. Murray, and M. Flaherty. 2014. Strengthening threatened communities through adaptation: insights from coastal Mozambique. Ecology and Society 19(2): 6. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06408-190206

The Taxonomic Status of Giant Sengis (GenusRhynchocyon) in Mozambique

The sengis (elephant-shrews) of Mozambique are poorly known, especially the taxonomic status of the giant sengis, genus Rhynchocyon Currently, Rhynchocyon from Mozambique are thought to be chequered sengis, R. cirnei with specimens from the central coastal areas being placed in the subspecies R. c. cirnei, while the subspecific status of those from north-eastern areas has not been determined. To resolve this taxonomic ambiguity, we collected voucher specimens from north-eastern Mozambique. Based on a comparison of pelage patterns and colouration, features that are currently used to distinguish taxa in the genus Rhynchocyon, specimens from all of coastal Mozambique show minor variation, but are similar enough to indicate that they all are referable to R. c. cirnei.

Revised lithostratigraphy of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic succession of the onshore Rovuma Basin, northern coastal Mozambique

Research Article| March 01, 2008 Revised lithostratigraphy of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic succession of the onshore Rovuma Basin, northern coastal Mozambique R.M. Key; R.M. Key a British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, United Kingdom. e-mail: rmk@bgs.ac.uk; ras@bgs.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar R.A. Smith; R.A. Smith a British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, United Kingdom. e-mail: rmk@bgs.ac.uk; ras@bgs.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar M. Smelror; M. Smelror Geological Survey of Norway, Leiv Eirikssons vei 39, Trondheim NO-7491, Norway, e-mail: Morten.Smelror@ngu.no; Ola.Sather@ngu.no; Terje.Thorsnes@ngu.no Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar O.M. Sæther; O.M. Sæther Geological Survey of Norway, Leiv Eirikssons vei 39, Trondheim NO-7491, Norway, e-mail: Morten.Smelror@ngu.no; Ola.Sather@ngu.no; Terje.Thorsnes@ngu.no Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar T. Thorsnes; T. Thorsnes Geological Survey of Norway, Leiv Eirikssons vei 39, Trondheim NO-7491, Norway, e-mail: Morten.Smelror@ngu.no; Ola.Sather@ngu.no; Terje.Thorsnes@ngu.no Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar J.H. Powell; J.H. Powell British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, United Kingdom. e-mail: jhp@bgs.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar F. Njange; F. Njange Direcção National de Geologia, PO Box 217, Pemba, Mozambique, e-mail: c/o edaudi@teledata.mz Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar E.B. Zandamela E.B. Zandamela Direcção National de Geologia, PO Box 217, Pemba, Mozambique, e-mail: c/o edaudi@teledata.mz Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar South African Journal of Geology (2008) 111 (1): 89–108. https://doi.org/10.2113/gssajg.111.1.89 Article history first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share MailTo Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation R.M. Key, R.A. Smith, M. Smelror, O.M. Sæther, T. Thorsnes, J.H. Powell, F. Njange, E.B. Zandamela; Revised lithostratigraphy of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic succession of the onshore Rovuma Basin, northern coastal Mozambique. South African Journal of Geology 2008;; 111 (1): 89–108. doi: https://doi.org/10.2113/gssajg.111.1.89 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySouth African Journal of Geology Search Advanced Search Abstract A revised formal lithostratigraphy for the Mesozoic to Cenozoic succession of the onshore portion of the Rovuma Basin in northern Mozambique replaces a previous mixture of informal lithostratigraphical and biostratigraphical names. The following nine formations are formally described: Rio Mecole Formation (Jurassic? age), N’Gapa Formation (Jurassic? age), Pemba Formation (late Jurassic and early Cretaceous age), Macomia Formation (Aptian-Albian age), Mifume Formation (Albian (offshore)/Campanian (onshore)-Maastrichtian age), Alto Jingone Formation (Paleocene-Eocene age), Quissanga Formation (middle Eocene-Oligocene age), Chinda Formation (Neogene age) and Mikindani Formation (Neogene age). The basin’s geology records the temporal development of the coastline of northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania over the last c. 200 million years. Intracratonic rift-basins formed during the early Jurassic Period developed into a south-facing gulf prior to complete separation of eastern Africa from the rest of eastern Gondwana in early Cretaceous times. Concomitant with the lateral crustal movements, vertical isostatic and locally fault-controlled, uplift was a major influence on sedimentation in eastern Africa. This led to erosion with high-energy, fluvial sedimentation into the rift-basins and the establishment of a marine basin throughout the Cretaceous Period. Reduced sedimentation rates during the Paleocene and Eocene were followed by regenerated river-transported sedimentation due to doming and erosion of eastern Africa associated with the development of the East African Rift System since the Oligocene. The major onshore faults that control the shape of the Rovuma Basin and which have been intermittently active since the Jurassic cut across the east-northeast to west-southwest structural grain of the underlying Precambrian crystalline rocks of the East African Orogen. However, some of the east-northeast to west-southwest transfer faults identified in the offshore part of the Rovuma Basin may represent, in part, reactivated Pan African ductile shears You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Distributions of trace gases and aerosols during the dry biomass burning season in southern Africa

Vertical profiles in the lower troposphere of temperature, relative humidity, sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), condensation nuclei (CN), and carbon monoxide (CO), and horizontal distributions of twenty gaseous and particulate species, are presented for five regions of southern Africa during the dry biomass burning season of 2000. The regions are the semiarid savannas of northeast South Africa and northern Botswana, the savanna‐forest mosaic of coastal Mozambique, the humid savanna of southern Zambia, and the desert of western Namibia. The highest average concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), CO, methane (CH4), O3, black particulate carbon, and total particulate carbon were in the Botswana and Zambia sectors (388 and 392 ppmv, 369 and 453 ppbv, 1753 and 1758 ppbv, 79 and 88 ppbv, 2.6 and 5.5 μg m−3, and 13.2 and 14.3 μg m−3). This was due to intense biomass burning in Zambia and surrounding regions. The South Africa sector had the highest average concentrations of SO2, sulfate particles, and CN (5.1 ppbv, 8.3 μg m−3, and 6400 cm−3, respectively), which derived from biomass burning and electric generation plants and mining operations within this sector. Air quality in the Mozambique sector was similar to the neighboring South Africa sector. Over the arid Namibia sector there were polluted layers aloft, in which average SO2, O3, and CO mixing ratios (1.2 ppbv, 76 ppbv, and 310 ppbv, respectively) were similar to those measured over the other more polluted sectors. This was due to transport of biomass smoke from regions of widespread savanna burning in southern Angola. Average concentrations over all sectors of CO2 (386 ± 8 ppmv), CO (261 ± 81 ppbv), SO2 (2.5 ± 1.6 ppbv), O3 (64 ± 13 ppbv), black particulate carbon (2.3 ± 1.9 μg m−3), organic particulate carbon (6.2 ± 5.2 μg m−3), total particle mass (26.0 ± 4.7 μg m−3), and potassium particles (0.4 ± 0.1 μg m−3) were comparable to those in polluted, urban air. Since the majority of the measurements in this study were obtained in locations well removed from industrial sources of pollution, the high average concentrations of pollutants reflect the effects of widespread biomass burning. On occasions, relatively thin (∼0.5 km) layers of remarkably clean air were located at ∼3 km above mean sea level, sandwiched between heavily polluted air. The data presented here can be used for inputs to and validation of regional and global atmospheric chemical models.

Pastoralism and Zimbabwe

Excavations at the Zimbabwe (enclosure) of Manekweni, in southern coastal Mozambique, have shown that it belongs to the Zimbabwe Culture which was centred on the Rhodesian plateau. Occupation levels have been dated to between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. The faunal evidence indicates that a section of the population benefited from intensive beef production through transhumant pastoralism on the seasonally-fluctuating fringes of tsetse fly infestation. The settlement pattern of Rhodesian Zimbabwe suggests that their siting was determined by the demands of a similar system of transhumance. This model provides a basis from which to begin to reconstruct some aspects of the economies of early Zimbabwe. It is already clear that Zimbabwe were not simply the products of long-distance trade; rather, their economies integrated farming and cattle-herding as well as gold production and foreign trade.