TY - JOUR A1 - Sponholz, Barbara A1 - Baumhauer, Roland A1 - Felix-Hennignsen, P. T1 - Fulgurites in the southern central Sahara, Republic of Niger and their palaeoenvironmental significance N2 - The mineralogical and chemical characteristics of fulgurites ( = natural glasses forrned by lightning strikes to the ground) from the southern Centrat Sahara (Niger) are presented. The fulgurites are indicators of thunderstorms. The northernmost important fulgurite formation in the study area reached up to about l8°N, with decreasing fulgurite concentration from south to north. Their distribution pattern and the relative dating of their formation in relation to Iandscape history from the Late Pleistocene onwards (e.g., palaeolakes, palaeosols), and to Neolithic settlement reveals their value as palaeoenvironmental indicators. They indicate: (1) local palaeoenvironmental conditions depending on the topographical situation in a complex dune relief; (2) climatic change during the mid-Holocene from northerly rains to southerly rains; and (3) the northernmost Iimit of important thunderstorrns and rainfall activity since this time in the southern Centrat Sahara. KW - Sahara KW - Niger KW - Fulgurite KW - fulgurites KW - lightning KW - thunderstorms KW - Sahara KW - Holocene KW - climatic change KW - palaeosols KW - Neolithic Y1 - 1993 UR - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/5042 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-63337 ER -