Cote, SusanneButts, Catherine Frances Rita2019-01-282019-01-282019-01-24Butts, C. F. R. (2019). Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Kalodirr and Moruorot, Kenya using Stable Carbon Isotopes (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/109862Early Miocene environments in East Africa are proposed to have consisted of entirely dense forest systems composed strictly of C3 vegetation, which has affected our understanding of Miocene ape habitats. However, new environmental data from the early Miocene sites of Moroto (21 Ma), Napak (20 Ma), Tinderet (20 Ma), Rusinga Island (20-18 Ma), and Bukwa (19 Ma) indicate a more open environment consisting of open canopied forests, woodlands and wooded grasslands with evidence of some C4 vegetation. This study builds on this new data by analyzing stable carbon isotopes in mammalian tooth enamel collected from Kalodirr and Moruorot, Kenya (17.5-16.8 Ma). These δ13Cenamel signatures suggest a mosaic of C3 vegetation too enriched to indicate a closed canopy forest. Rather, they are more similar to values found in woodlands, with some indications of C4 vegetation. This supports the hypothesis that the forest canopies of East Africa were opening before the middle Miocene, demonstrating that the environmental history of East Africa was more dynamic than previously described.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.MioceneKenyaEnvironmental ReconstructionisotopeenamelEast AfricaKalodirrMoruorotAnthropologyGeologyPaleontologyEngineering--Environmentalmaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/36119