AFRICA AS SOURCE AND SINK FOR ATMOSPHERIC CARBON-DIOXIDE

Comparison of a set of paleogeographic maps of Africa for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO) allows us to discuss the contribution of paleocontinental proxy-data in paleobiomass calculations and their accuracy. Maps show considerable shifts in the area covered by the main ecosystems. In this study we have quantified these areal changes, from the LGM to the HCO, in terms of variations in carbon storage. Each biome has been assigned a carbon density in living and soil organic matter. From desert to tropical forest the mean carbon densities vary from 0 to 20 kg m-2 for phytomass and from 0 to 13 kg m-2 for soil (peat excluded). During the world deglaciation Africa was a sink for 154 Gt (standard deviation 42 Gt) of atmospheric carbon. Since the HCO Africa has been a source of carbon. More recently human deforestation is responsible for a carbon flux towards the atmosphere which is ten times the mean annual flux due to vegetation change in response to climate change. Extended to a global scale this regional test shows that the paleoenvironmental approach is more appropriate for paleobiomass estimates than calculations based only on oceanic data.