Zvi Ben-Avraham1,2
Emanuele Lodolo
Uri Schattner- 1Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- 2Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- 3Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- 4Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- 5Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Trieste, Italy
- 6School of Environmental Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
When early hominids began walking upright around 6 Ma, their evolutionary course took a sharp turn. The new posture enabled physical and mental developments that had not been possible before. The factors driving the transition from quadrupedalism to bipedalism remain open. Most studies have linked this fundamental transition to environmental, topographical, geomorphological, and climatic changes that progressively transformed jungle- and forest-dominated areas of southern and eastern Africa into vast savannas, thus partitioning ecological niches. During the same timeframe, major tectonic events occurred worldwide within a relatively short geological period, due to a significant and sudden shift in the motion of the Pacific plate. In our previous work, we coined the term ripple tectonics to link a major tectonic impact to the short-term local events it caused worldwide. The ripple tectonic cascade in the Pacific around 6 Ma instigated significant environmental transformations in Africa, which ultimately catalyzed the biological evolution of early hominids towards a bipedal posture.
1 Introduction
1.1 Emergence of hominid bipedalism
During the Miocene-Pliocene transition, about 6 million years ago (Ma), a fundamental change in posture from quadrupedalism to bipedalism took place among hominids in southern and eastern Africa. This new form of upright locomotion enabled key physical and cognitive developments in early hominids that were not previously possible (Harcourt-Smith and Aiello, 2004). Bipedalism triggered a series of anatomical and physiological adaptations that opened new niches for hominids. It facilitated remodeling the trunk, pelvis, knees, feet, and spine to enable efficient upright walking (Latimer and Lovejoy, 1989). These skeletal changes also affected soft tissues, muscles, and the position of organs, enabling endurance running and heat dissipation (Bramble and Lieberman, 2004). Bipedal posture altered the visual field and vocal tract of early hominids (MacLarnon and Hewitt, 1999). In addition, walking upright changed the use of hands and arms, enabling complex tools and gestural communication (Young, 2003).
The earliest evidence for habitual hominid bipedalism dates to around 6–7 Ma based on fossils such as Sahelanthropus and Orrorin from Chad and Kenya (Senut et al., 2001; Brunet et al., 2002). From 4 Ma onward, hominids such as Australopithecus Afarensis and Anamensis were bipedal, as evidenced by remains from sites throughout east Africa like Hadar, Laetoli, and Woranso-Mille (Johanson et al., 1978; Leakey and Hay, 1979; WoldeGabriel et al., 2001). Their new mode of bipedal locomotion allowed these primitive hominids to inhabit diverse environments ranging from forests to grasslands (Coppens, 1994; Reed, 1997). As a result, hominids began spending less time in trees and more time on the ground, traveling and foraging for food.
Bipedalism evolved gradually in response to dynamic environmental pressures and changing hominid lifestyles that altered the availability of food resources and occupational niches (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al., 2008). Several evolutionary hypotheses have been proposed for the origin of bipedalism in hominids related to dietary changes, parental care, and tool use (Lovejoy, 1981; Wheeler, 1984; Jablonski and Chaplin, 1993). However, most evidence suggests a combination of social and ecological factors (Niemitz, 2010).
Fragmentation of forest habitats likely facilitated shifts to more open environments, where upright walking provided an advantage. These modifications are closely related to significant topographic transformations across Africa, as rifting activity produced rugged topography and climatic changes promoted extensive savanna ecosystems that partitioned former ecological niches (Figure 1; King and Bailey, 2006). However, a recent paleoanthropological study conducted on chimpanzees in an east African habitat quite similar to that of early hominids seems to suggest that our early ancestors developed walking in trees and only then adapted it to terrestrial environments (Drummond-Clarke et al., 2022). The question of the driving factors for the transition from quadrupedalism to bipedalism thus remains open.
Figure 1. (A) Schematic distribution of modern vegetation biomass according to the present topography (after White, 1983; Miller et al., 2016). Red line marks the location of (C). (B) Hypothetical distribution of vegetation without the topographic effect, marked by question marks and dashed white lines. 1 - desert/semi-desert, 2 – savanna, 3 – deciduous woodland, 4 - tropical rainforest, 5 – other. (C) Topographic profiles, showing the gradual uplift of eastern Africa and its rifts (after Vrba et al., 1995). A - Late Oligocene to mid-Miocene, B – mid-Miocene to Pliocene, C - late Pliocene to recent, D – modern topography.
Here, we propose that ripple tectonics served as a driving mechanism that could have rapidly and drastically modified the environment where the hominids lived by altering topography, landscape, vegetation coverage, and localized climatic niches. These radical modifications (e.g., Maslin and Christensen, 2007; Maslin et al., 2014; Ring et al., 2018; Couvreur et al., 2021; Figure 1) created conditions that exceeded the hominids' ability to adapt to. As a result, hominids were forced to adopt a new posture.
1.2 Ripple tectonics
Throughout geological history, tectonic and volcanic processes have built up and reshaped the Earth's interior and surface (Le Pichon, 2019). They have opened oceans, formed mountains and savannas, dictated erosion and sedimentation, and even caused climatic changes (Molnar and England, 1990; Pérez-Díaz and Eagles, 2017). Most studies examining the connectivity between tectonic, seismic, and volcanic events worldwide rely on local and regional structural relationships, spatial proximity, and temporal association. A recent paper proposed a mechanism linking many short-term and synchronous tectonic modifications worldwide to a major event (Ben-Avraham et al., 2020).
A ripple tectonic cascade was triggered ~6 Ma when the largest plate on Earth suddenly changed its course. For millions of years, the Pacific plate, which occupies ~32% of the Earth's surface, gradually subducted beneath the ~3,000 km long Melanesian Arc until subduction was choked for a short ~100 ka (Austermann et al., 2011). The largest oceanic plateau on Earth, Ontong Java Plateau (OJP), located in the southwestern part of the Pacific plate, approached the subduction zone and resisted tectonic downwelling into Earth's mantle (Cox and Engebretson, 1985a,b; Mahoney and Coffin, 1997; Neal et al., 1997). As a result, the Pacific plate rotated 5°-15° clockwise, triggering a swarm of short-lived tectonic, volcanic, and structural events worldwide, such as the separation of the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, the formation of topographic divides, and the formation of ecological niches across continents (Figures 1, 2; citations for the events: Vogt, 1972, 1979; Hsü et al., 1973; Duncan and McDougall, 1974; Ryan and Cita, 1978; Matsubara and Seno, 1980; Leakey, 1981a,b; Hay and Leakey, 1982; Cox and Engebretson, 1985a,b; Sarewitz and Karig, 1986; Bergerat, 1987; Fitton, 1987; Joffe and Garfunkel, 1987; De Ribet and Patriat, 1988; Dewey et al., 1989; Patriat and Parson, 1989; Cloetingh et al., 1990; Pollitz, 1991; Coffin and Eldholm, 1994; Cande et al., 1995; deMenocal, 1995, 2004; Rusby and Searle, 1995; Harrison et al., 1997, 2004; McNutt et al., 1997; Tebbens and Cande, 1997; Csontos and Nagymarosy, 1998; Kempler, 1998; Gutscher et al., 1999; Krijgsman et al., 1999; Ebinger et al., 2000; Krijgsman and Langereis, 2000; Wessel and Kroenke, 2000; Allen et al., 2002; Bruguier et al., 2003; Lodolo et al., 2003, 2013; Bell, 2004; Cande and Stock, 2004; Duggen et al., 2004; Faccenna et al., 2004; Rankenburg et al., 2004; Ben-Avraham et al., 2005; Domínguez-Rodrigo et al., 2005; Eagles et al., 2005; Lu et al., 2005; Tassone et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007; Croon et al., 2008; Woolley and Kjarsgaard, 2008; White et al., 2009; Cande and Stegman, 2011; Chauvel et al., 2012; Hilgen et al., 2012; Iaffaldano et al., 2012; Baristeas et al., 2013; Colli et al., 2014; Ghiglione et al., 2014, 2016; Ben-Avraham and Katsman, 2015; Maslin et al., 2015; Simon et al., 2015; Balázs et al., 2016; Capella et al., 2017; Macchiavelli et al., 2017; Leroux et al., 2018; Vibe et al., 2018; Rozenbaum et al., 2019). The tectonic and environmental disruption was profound and widespread, but short-lived. It was accepted as a transition between the Miocene and Pliocene. Among the best-known and studied consequences of the ~6 Ma event is certainly the drying up of the Mediterranean Sea (Hsü, 1983; Garcia-Castellanos and Villaseñor, 2011), as testified by the widespread Messinian salt and gypsum deposits present in many Mediterranean basins.
Figure 2. Illustration of the ripple tectonic concept: collision of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) with the Melanesian Arc (MA) choked the ~3,000 km long subduction zone (after Leroux et al., 2018; Ben-Avraham et al., 2020). This resulted in a sudden 5°-15° clockwise rotation of the Pacific plate - largest on Earth. This significant tectonic modification altered stress balance throughout the Earth plate boundaries, triggering 56 short-lived tectonic topographic changes worldwide (numbered). A central modification was the closure of Gibraltar strait (yellow star) that led to the Mediterranean desiccation and the Messinian salinity crisis. The end of the crisis defines the Miocene-Pliocene transition, defined in southern Sicily (red star). Africa's topography was also modified by the same trigger (Africa SRTM topography taken from: www2.jpl.nasa.gov). Numbered locations: 1-San Andreas fault, 2-Alpine fault, 3-Aleutian Arc, 4-Pitman Fracture Zone, 5-Juan Fernandez microplate, 6-Easter microplate, 7-East Pacific Rise, 8-Menard Fracture Zone, 9-Emerald Fracture Zone, 10-Canterbury Basin, 11-Hjort Trench, 12-South Tasman Sea, 13-Macquarie Plate, 14-West Scotia Sea, 15-Magallanes-Fagnano transform fault, 16-Andean mountains, 17-Argentinian and Malvinas basins, 18-Southern Atlantic spreading, 19-Central Atlantic spreading, 20-North Atlantic spreading, 21-Arctic Ocean, 22-Central North Sea, 23-Labrador Sea, 24-Grand Banks, 25-Western Greenland, 26-Nova Scotia continental shelf, 27-United States Atlantic margin, 28-Alpine arc, 29-Mid-Hungarian line, 30-South Caspian Sea, 31-Cyprus, 32-Dead Sea Fault, 33-Tibetan Plateau, 34-Tengchong volcanic field, 35-Indian Ocean Triple Junction, 36-Bowie seamount, 37-Hawaii hotspot, 38-Macdonald seamount, 39-Tahiti volcano, 40-Caroline chain, 41-Galapagos hotspot, 42-Cook islands, 43-Austral islands, 44-Marquesas islands, 45-Mayotte and Comores Islands, 46-Somali Basin, 47-Bowland and Rosencrans, 48-Tasmantid Seamounts, 49-Annobon Island, 50-Cameroon and Guinea, 51-Biu Plateau and Cameroon Volcanic line, 52-Namjagbarwa and Yuli, 53-Calatrava, 54-Sao Vicente, 56-Alboran Sea.
1.3 Aim of this study
As outlined above, most previous research has linked the emergence of erect posture to climatic changes and the resulting formation of new ecological niches (e.g., Ward et al., 1999). However, the link to global tectonics, particularly the reason for the ~6 Ma timing, has yet to be determined. We hypothesize that the changes in the geomorphology of Africa - topography and environment - may have developed through continuous, disconnected volcanic and tectonic events as widely described in the literature. In east Africa, plate tectonics forces have progressively transformed a relatively flat, forested region into a mountainous fragmented landscape, dominated by the rapid appearance and disappearance of huge, deep-water lakes and large rift valleys, where vegetation varied from forest to desert scrub. The East Africa Rift bounding mountains prevented moist air from the Indian Ocean from passing over east Africa, causing the region to dry even further.
These geomorphological changes have been triggered by a cascade of transient tectonic and magmatic events worldwide due to a significant Pacific plate rotation (yellow circular arrow in Figure 2). These events altered the topography and landscape throughout Africa, creating an environment suitable for the development in hominids of an erect posture (Figure 1).
If we want to draw a parallel between tectonic events and the consequences for the landscape and climate, we could use the well-known example of the Tibetan Plateau, the highest plateau on Earth with an average altitude of over 4500 m and an area of over 2.5 × 106 km2. It was formed by the collision between the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian plate from the early Cenozoic onwards and has played an important role in global atmospheric circulation, from the aridification of inland Asia to the development of the Asian monsoon (Molnar et al., 2010; Wu et al., 2015) and in the evolution of Asian vegetation and fauna (Deng et al., 2019; Spicer et al., 2020).
1.4 Environmental conditions during the emergence of hominid bipedalism
The Miocene-Pliocene transition was accompanied by a sudden global climatic change both in the ocean and on land. The overall uniform warm conditions that prevailed during the Miocene, rapidly cooled to the near-modern climate, with dynamic glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere (deMenocal, 2011; Herbert et al., 2016; Holbourn et al., 2018). This cooling coincided with the widespread reorganization of the terrestrial environments, including the spread of open grassland habitats across broad areas due to declining precipitation and increased aridity (Cerling et al., 1997; Polissar et al., 2019; Wen et al., 2023). One of these environments was the north African Sahara – a Miocene green area that transformed into a hyper-arid desert during the Pliocene, according to palaeobotanical evidence (Micheels et al., 2009; Couvreur et al., 2021). In northern Chad, woodlands fragmented into a mosaic of forested areas and edaphic grasslands (Moussa et al., 2016). Early hominids inhabiting diverse places like Toros-Menalla in Chad adapted to the emerging mosaics of woodland, shrubland, and grassland (Vignaud et al., 2002). Similarly, in the Ethiopian Afar Rift, moisture availability decreased near Australopithecus afarensis fossil sites (Levin et al., 2004). The co-occurrence of these modifications in the separated niches coincides with the many events listed here.
Some studies linked these climatic changes with declining atmospheric CO2 levels in the late Miocene (7.5–5 Ma; e.g., Tanner et al., 2020). Other studies have invoked paleogeographic changes (e.g., ocean gateways closure: LaRiviere et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2014) and regional mountain uplift (Sepulchre et al., 2006) as the main triggers for the overall Miocene-Pliocene cooling.
Coincident with climate changes around 6 Ma, the onset of the East African Rift System led to the uplift of its surroundings, resulting in extensive geological, geomorphological, and habitat changes (Figure 2; Ebinger, 2005). Rifting activity altered drainage and produced rugged terrain in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Freshly formed rift valleys were flanked by fault scarps and active volcanoes, creating habitats for hominids. Sepulchre et al. (2006) and others suggest these changes caused hominids to switch to bipeds as they crossed new savanna areas. For example, at Woranso-Mille in Ethiopia's Afar region, chert deposits indicate that hominids lived near rift lakes and volcanoes (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al., 2008). Early bipeds that roamed these landscapes adapted their postures to traverse the mixed topography of the rifts (Figure 1). Thus, widespread tectonic and volcanic processes reshaped the African landscape and disrupted the dynamic ecological balance as the hominid biped evolved.
2 Tectonic processes working behind the scenes
2.1 Global scale
The collision of the massive OJP with the 3,000 km long Melanesian subduction zone around 6 Ma disrupted the Pacific plate motion and slab pull forces, triggering a ripple cascade of tectonic changes worldwide (Ben-Avraham et al., 2020). The OJP choked the smooth Pacific-Australian subduction, causing slab tearing (Neal et al., 1997; Bercovici et al., 2015). The resulting stress release enabled short-lived geodynamic events at plate boundaries and volcanic centers worldwide (Lodolo et al., 2013; Leroux et al., 2018). A review by Leroux et al. (2018) and later Ben-Avraham et al. (2020) highlighted 56 locations where these events occurred. Here are some examples of the ~6 Ma tectonic swarm. Spreading rate changes occurred along the Pitman Fracture Zone at the Pacific-Antarctic Rise, while microplate formation was initiated along the East Pacific Rise (Cande et al., 1995; Rusby and Searle, 1995). At the same time, compressional effects propagated along the periphery of the Africa-Eurasia convergent boundary, leading to tectonic inversion along the Mid-Hungarian line, subsidence of the Caspian Sea, and the emergence of Cyprus (Allen et al., 2002; Harrison et al., 2004; Balázs et al., 2016). Further south, the Dead Sea Fault valley experienced enhanced subsidence and evaporite deposition (Joffe and Garfunkel, 1987; Rozenbaum et al., 2019). Rapid exhumation of the Tibetan Plateau and a peak in Himalayan metamorphism also occurred around 6 Ma (Harrison et al., 1997; Wang et al., 2007). These widespread tectonic effects around Africa appear to be linked to the distant reorganization of the Pacific plate through the ripple tectonics mechanism (Ben-Avraham et al., 2020).
A key tectonic response initiated the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean region. The Gibraltar subduction zone had been gradually weakening for millions of years, leading to the rollback cessation and opening of the Alboran Sea (Duggen et al., 2004; Faccenna et al., 2004). The rapid release of global stresses from the Pacific enabled the Gibraltar Arc to close completely by 5.97 Ma, interrupting the Atlantic-Mediterranean gateway and lowering the sea level (Hsü et al., 1973; Krijgsman et al., 1999). This triggered the steep 2,000 m sea level drop during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, profoundly altering the Mediterranean environment and surrounding niches (Ryan and Cita, 1978).
2.2 Africa scale
Rifting in east Africa, which nucleated in the mid-Eocene and developed throughout the Miocene, intensified ~6 Ma with extensive faulting and volcanism in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania as the continent underwent stretching and thinning (Ebinger et al., 1989; George et al., 1998; MacGregor, 2015; Purcell, 2018; Boone et al., 2019). Rifting produced complex landscapes with rugged valleys, border faults, and active volcanic complexes (Chorowicz, 2005; Maslin et al., 2014). At the same time, the rotation of Africa was accompanied by a lower relative motion between Africa, Europe, India and Arabia (Jolivet and Faccenna, 2000; Cande and Stegman, 2011). The compression propagated along the Alpine and Mediterranean margins, triggering tectonic inversions and orogenic pulses (Carminati et al., 1998; Gelabert et al., 2002). Around the Afar region, the uplift of the Ethiopian and Somali Plateaus occurred, while the main Ethiopian Rift extended southwards (Pik et al., 2003; Bonini et al., 2005; Olaka and Ebinger, 2023). Within the Kenya Rift, strong faulting and subsidence continued, as indicated by sediments in Lake Turkana and the Baringo-Bogoria basins (Morley et al., 1992; Tiercelin and Lezzar, 2002). To the north, increased subsidence and evaporite deposition occurred on the strike-slip Dead Sea Fault (Joffe and Garfunkel, 1987; ten Brink and Ben-Avraham, 1989; Ben-Avraham and Schubert, 2006; Ben-Avraham and Katsman, 2015; Rozenbaum et al., 2019; Segev and Schattner, 2023). By 4 Ma, rifting had progressed through the Main Ethiopian Rift, Kenya Rift, and Afar, creating high relief and lakes (Trauth et al., 2005; Sepulchre et al., 2006). Overall, extensive faulting and volcanic processes resulted in complex rift landscapes across east Africa throughout 6–4 Ma (Africa topography in Figure 2).
3 Concluding remarks
Around 6 Ma, a swarm of major tectonic, climatic, and evolutionary events occurred across the globe. Events such as the closure of the Gibraltar Gateway, enhanced volcanism, extensive faulting, and changing topography reflect reverberations caused by the initial Ontong Java Plateau-Pacific trigger. At the same time, Earth's climate cooled and dried, expanding arid habitats in Africa, while rifting and volcanism persisted in east Africa, generating rugged landscapes. This environmental variability forced new selection pressures on hominid adaptation. Intriguingly, the first evidence of habitual upright walking appears in fossils of Australopithecus and Ardipithecus about ~6 Ma ago, with bipedal posture improving the exploitation of changing mosaic environments. Previous studies linked the emergence of bipedalism to topographic, ecological, and climatic changes in Africa. However, this study links these regional changes for the first time to a global-scale response initiated in the Pacific Ocean with the so-called ripple tectonic phenomena. Integrative findings from various disciplines illuminate this critical point in the origin of our ancestors.
Data availability statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Author contributions
ZB-A: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. JR: Writing – review & editing. GS: Writing – review & editing. EL: Writing – review & editing. US: Visualization, Writing – review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Associate Editor and the reviewer of this article for their constructive comments and suggestions that considerably improved the manuscript. ZB-A would like to acknowledge the first introduction of ideas which led to this paper, in these two conference abstracts: (1) Engebretson and Ben-Avraham (1981). (2) Ben-Avraham and Nur (1981).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
References
Allen, M. B., Jones, S., Ismail-Zadeh, A., Simmons, M., and Anderson, L. (2002). Onset of subduction as the cause of rapid Pliocene-Quaternary subsidence in the South Caspian basin. Geology 30, 775–778. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0775:OOSATC>2.0.CO;2
Austermann, J., Ben-Avraham, Z., Bird, P., Heidbach, O., Schubert, G., Stock, J. M., et al. (2011). Quantifying the forces needed for the rapid change of Pacific plate motion at 6 Ma. Earth Planetary Sci. Letters 307, 289–297. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.04.043
Balázs, A., Matenco, L., Magyar, I., Horváth, F., and Cloetingh, S. (2016). The link between tectonics and sedimentation in back-arc basins: new genetic constraints from the analysis of the Pannonian Basin. Tectonics 35, 1526–1559. doi: 10.1002/2015TC004109
Baristeas, N., Anka, Z., di Primio, R., Rodriguez, J., Marchal, D., and Dominguez, F. (2013). New insights into the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the malvinas basin, offshore of the southernmost Argentinean continental margin. Tectonophysics 604, 280–295. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2013.06.009
Bell, K. (2004). “Carbonatite,” in Encyclopedia of Geology, eds R.C. Selley, R. Cocks and I. Plimer (London: Academic Press), 217–233.
Ben-Avraham, Z., and Katsman, R. (2015). The formation of graben morphology in the Dead Sea Fault, and its implications. Geophys. Res. Lett. 42:6989–6996. doi: 10.1002/2015GL065111
Ben-Avraham, Z., Lazar, M., Schattner, U., and Marco, S. (2005). “The dead sea fault and its effect on civilization,” in Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences: Perspectives in Modern Seismology, ed F. Wenzel (Cham: Springer Verlag Heidelberg), 147–170.
Ben-Avraham, Z., and Nur, A. (1981). “Consumption processes along the Pacific margins (abstract),” in Symposium on Convergence and Subduction (Texas A & M University).
Ben-Avraham, Z., and Schubert, G. (2006). Deep “drop down” basin in the southern Dead Sea. Earth Planetary Sci. Lett. 251, 254–263. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2006.09.008
Ben-Avraham, Z., Schubert, G., Lodolo, E., and Schattner, U. (2020). Ripple tectonics—when subduction is interrupted. Positioning 11, 33–44. doi: 10.4236/pos.2020.113003
Bercovici, D., Schubert, G., and Ricard, Y. (2015). Abrupt tectonics and rapid slab detachment with grain damage. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 112, 1287–1291. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1415473112
Bergerat, F. (1987). Paléo-champs de contrainte tertiaires dans la plate-forme européenne au front de l'orogène alpin. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France 3, 611–620. doi: 10.2113/gssgfbull.III.3.611
Bonini, M., Corti, G., Innocenti, F., Manetti, P., Mazzarini, F., Abebe, T., et al. (2005). Evolution of the Main Ethiopian Rift in the frame of Afar and Kenya rifts propagation. Tectonics 24, 1–21. doi: 10.1029/2004TC001680
Boone, S. C., Kohn, B. P., Gleadow, A. J., Morley, C. K., Seiler, C., Foster, D. A., et al. (2019). Birth of the East African rift system: nucleation of magmatism and strain in the Turkana depression. Geology 47, 886–890. doi: 10.1130/G46468.1
Bramble, D. M., and Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature 432, 345–352. doi: 10.1038/nature03052
Bruguier, N., Minshull, T., and Brozena, J. (2003). Morphology and tectonics of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 7°-12° S. J. Geophysical Res. Solid Earth 108:1172. doi: 10.1029/2001JB001172
Brunet, M., Guy, F., Pilbeam, D., Mackaye, H. T., Likius, A., Ahounta, D., et al. (2002). A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. Nature 418, 145–151. doi: 10.1038/nature00879
Cande, S. C., Raymond, C. A., Stock, J., and Haxby, W. F. (1995). Geophysics of the Pitman Fracture Zone and Pacific-Antarctic plate motions during the Cenozoic. Science 270, 947–953. doi: 10.1126/science.270.5238.947
Cande, S. C., and Stegman, D. R. (2011). Indian and African plate motions driven by the push force of the Reunion plume head. Nature 475:47. doi: 10.1038/nature10174
Cande, S. C., and Stock, J. M. (2004). Pacific—Antarctic—Australia motion and the formation of the Macquarie Plate. Geophys. J. Int. 157, 399–414. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02224.x
Capella, W., Matenco, L., Dmitrieva, E., Roest, W. M., Hessels, S., Hssain, M., et al. (2017). Thick-skinned tectonics closing the Rifian Corridor. Tectonophysics 710, 249–265. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.09.028
Carminati, E., Wortel, M. J. R., Meijer, P. T., and Sabadini, R. (1998). The two-stage opening of the western–central Mediterranean basins: a forward modeling test to a new evolutionary model. Earth Planetary Sci. Lett. 160, 667–679. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(98)00119-8
Cerling, T. E., Harris, J. M., MacFadden, B. J., Leakey, M. G., Quade, J., Eisenmann, V., et al. (1997). Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389, 153–158. doi: 10.1038/38229
Chauvel, C., Maury, R. C., Blais, S., Lewin, E., Guillou, H., Guille, G., et al. (2012). The size of plume heterogeneities constrained by Marquesas isotopic stripes. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 13:4123. doi: 10.1029/2012GC004123
Chorowicz, J. (2005). The East African rift system. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43, 379–410. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2005.07.019
Cloetingh, S., Gradstein, F., Kooi, H., Grant, A., and Kaminski, M. (1990). Plate reorganization: a cause of rapid late Neogene subsidence and sedimentation around the North Atlantic? J. Geol. Soc. 147, 495–506. doi: 10.1144/gsjgs.147.3.0495
Coffin, M. F., and Eldholm, O. (1994). Large igneous provinces: crustal structure, dimensions, and external consequences. Rev. Geophys. 32, 1–36. doi: 10.1029/93RG02508
Colli, L., Stotz, I., Bunge, H. P., Smethurst, M., Clark, S., Iaffaldano, G., et al. (2014). Rapid South Atlantic spreading changes and coeval vertical motion in surrounding continents: evidence for temporal changes of pressure-driven upper mantle flow. Tectonics 33, 1304–1321. doi: 10.1002/2014TC003612
Coppens, Y. (1994). East side story: the origin of humankind. Sci. Am. 270, 88–95. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0594-88
Couvreur, T. L., Dauby, G., Blach-Overgaard, A., Deblauwe, V., Dessein, S., Droissart, V., et al. (2021). Tectonics, climate and the diversification of the tropical African terrestrial flora and fauna. Biol. Rev. 96, 16–51. doi: 10.1111/brv.12644
Cox, A., and Engebretson, D. (1985a). Change in motion of Pacific plate at 5 Myr BP. Nature 313, 472–474. doi: 10.1038/313472a0
Cox, A., and Engebretson, D. (1985b). Erratum: Change in motion of Pacific plate at 5 Myr BP. Nature 314, 561–561. doi: 10.1038/314561a0
Croon, M. B., Cande, S. C., and Stock, J. M. (2008). Revised Pacific-Antarctic plate motions and geophysics of the Menard Fracture Zone. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 9:2019. doi: 10.1029/2008GC002019
Csontos, L., and Nagymarosy, A. (1998). The Mid-Hungarian line: a zone of repeated tectonic inversions. Tectonophysics 297, 51–71. doi: 10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00163-2
De Ribet, D., and Patriat, B. (1988). La région axiale de la dorsale sud-ouest indienne entre 53° est et 59° est: Son evolution depuis 10 Ma. Marine Geophys. Res. 10, 139–156. doi: 10.1007/BF00310061
deMenocal, P. B. (1995). Plio-Pleistocene African climate. Science 270, 53–59. doi: 10.1126/science.270.5233.53
deMenocal, P. B. (2004). African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene–Pleistocene. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 220, 3–24. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(04)00003-2
deMenocal, P. B. (2011). Climate and human evolution. Science 331, 540–542. doi: 10.1126/science.1190683
Deng, T., Wang, X., Wu, F., Wang, Y., Li, Q., Wang, S., et al. (2019). Review: Implications of vertebrate fossils for paleo-elevations of the Tibetan Plateau. Glob. Planet. Change 174, 58–69. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.01.005
Dewey, J., Helman, M., Knott, S., Turco, E., and Hutton, D. (1989). Kinematics of the western Mediterranean. Geol. Soc. 45, 265–283. doi: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1989.045.01.15
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Mabulla, A., Luque, L., Thompson, J. W., Rink, J., Bushozi, P., et al. (2008). A new archaic Homo sapiens fossil from Lake Eyasi, Tanzania. J. Hum. Evol. 54, 899–903. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.02.002
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Pickering, T. R., Semaw, S., and Rogers, M. J. (2005). Cutmarked bones from Pliocene archaeological sites at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia: implications for the function of the world's oldest stone tools. J. Hum. Evol. 48, 109–121. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.09.004
Drummond-Clarke, R. C., Kivell, T. L., Sarringhaus, L., Stewart, F. A., Humle, T., and Piel, A. K. (2022). Wild chimpanzee behavior suggests that a savanna-mosaic habitat did not support the emergence of hominin terrestrial bipedalism. Sci. Adv. 8:eadd9752. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.add9752
Duggen, S., Hoernle, K., van den Bogaard, P., and Harris, C. (2004). Magmatic evolution of the Alboran region: the role of subduction in forming the western Mediterranean and causing the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 218, 91–108. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00632-0
Duncan, R. A., and McDougall, I. (1974). Migration of volcanism with time in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 21, 414–420. doi: 10.1016/0012-821X(74)90181-2
Eagles, G., Livermore, R. A., Fairhead, J. D., and Morris, P. (2005). Tectonic evolution of the west Scotia Sea. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 110:154. doi: 10.1029/2004JB003154
Ebinger, C. J. (2005). Continental break-up: the East African perspective. Astronomy Geophys. 46, 2–16. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-4004.2005.46216.x
Ebinger, C. J., Bechtel, T. D., Forsyth, D. W., and Bowin, C. O. (1989). Effective elastic plate thickness beneath the East African and Afar plateaus and dynamic compensation of the uplifts. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 94, 2883–2901. doi: 10.1029/JB094iB03p02883
Ebinger, C. J., Yemane, T., Harding, D. J., Tesfaye, S., Kelley, S., Rex, D. C., et al. (2000). Rift deflection, migration, and propagation: Linkage of the Ethiopian and Eastern rifts, Africa. Geol. Soc. Am. Bullet. 112, 163–176. doi: 10.1130/0016-7606(2000)112<163:RDMAPL>2.0.CO;2
Engebretson, D. C., and Ben-Avraham, Z. (1981). “Collisional events and the direction of relative motion between north America and the Pacific basin plates since the Jurassic (abstract), Abstracts with Programs,” in Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Annual Meeting, 55.
Faccenna, C., Piromallo, C., Crespo-Blanc, A., Jolivet, L., and Rossetti, F. (2004). Lateral slab deformation and the origin of the western Mediterranean arcs. Tectonics 23:488. doi: 10.1029/2002TC001488
Fitton, J. (1987). The Cameroon line, West Africa: a comparison between oceanic and continental alkaline volcanism. Geol. Soc. 30, 273–291. doi: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1987.030.01.13
Garcia-Castellanos D. Villaseñor A. (2011). Messinian salinity crisis regulated by competing tectonics and erosion at the Gibraltar arc. Nature 480, 359–363. doi: 10.1038/nature10651
Gelabert, B., Sàbat, F., and Rodríguez-Perea, A. (2002). A new proposal for the late Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the western Mediterranean. Terra Nova 14, 93–100. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3121.2002.00392.x
George, R., Rogers, N., and Kelley, S. (1998). Earliest magmatism in Ethiopia: evidence for two mantle plumes in one flood basalt province. Geology 26, 923–926. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1998)026<0923:EMIEEF>2.3.CO;2
Ghiglione, M. C., Likerman, J., Giambiagi, L. B., Aguirre-Urreta, B., and Suarez, F. (2014). Geodynamic context for the deposition of coarse-grained deep-water axial channel systems in the Patagonian Andes. Basin Res. 26, 726–745. doi: 10.1111/bre.12061
Ghiglione, M. C., Sue, C., Ramos, M. E., Tobal, J. E., and Gallardo, R. E. (2016). The Relation Between Neogene Denudation of the Southernmost Andes and Sedimentation in the offshore Argentine and Malvinas Basins During the Opening of the Drake Passage, Geodynamic Evolution of the Southernmost Andes. Cham: Springer, 109–135.
Gutscher, M. A., Olivet, J. L., Aslanian, D., Eissen, J. P., and Maury, R. (1999). The “lost Inca Plateau”: cause of flat subduction beneath Peru? Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 171, 335–341. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00153-3
Harcourt-Smith, W. E., and Aiello, L. C. (2004). Fossils, feet and the evolution of human bipedal locomotion. J. Anat. 204, 403–416. doi: 10.1111/j.0021-8782.2004.00296.x
Harrison, R. W., Newell, W. L., Batihanli, H., Panayides, I., McGeehin, J. P., Mahan, S. A., et al. (2004). Tectonic framework and Late Cenozoic tectonic history of the northern part of Cyprus: implications for earthquake hazards and regional tectonics. J. Asian Earth Sci. 23, 191–210. doi: 10.1016/S1367-9120(03)00095-6
Harrison, T. M., Ryerson, F., Le Fort, P., Yin, A., Lovera, O. M., Catlos, E., et al. (1997). A late Miocene-Pliocene origin for the central Himalayan inverted metamorphism. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 146, E1–E7. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(96)00215-4
Hay, R. L., and Leakey, M. D. (1982). The fossil footprints of Laetoli. Sci. Am. 246, 50–57. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0282-50
Herbert, T. D., Lawrence, K. T., Tzanova, A., Peterson, L. C., Caballero-Gill, R., Kelly, C. S., et al. (2016). Late Miocene global cooling and the rise of modern ecosystems. Nat. Geosci. 9, 843–847. doi: 10.1038/ngeo2813
Hilgen, F. J., Lourens, L. J., Van Dam, J. A., Beu, A. G., Boyes, A. F., Cooper, R.A., et al. (2012). “Chapter 29 - The Neogene Period,” in The Geologic Time Scale, eds F.M. Gradstein, J.G. Ogg, M.D. Schmitz and G.M. Ogg (Boston, MA: Elsevier), 923–978.
Holbourn, A. E., Kuhnt, W., Clemens, S. C., Kochhann, K. G., Jöhnck, J., Lübbers, J., et al. (2018). Late Miocene climate cooling and intensification of southeast Asian winter monsoon. Nat. Commun. 9:1584. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03950-1
Hsü, K.J., Cita, M.B., and Ryan, W.B.F. (1973). The Origin of the Mediterranean Evaporites. Washington, DC: U.S. Govt. Printing Office.
Iaffaldano, G., Bodin, T., and Sambridge, M. (2012). Reconstructing plate-motion changes in the presence of finite-rotations noise. Natu. Commun. 3:1048. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2051
Jablonski, N. G., and Chaplin, G. (1993). Origin of habitual terrestrial bipedalism in the ancestor of the Hominidae. J. Hum. Evol. 24, 259–280. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1993.1021
Joffe, S., and Garfunkel, Z. (1987). Plate kinematics of the Circum Red Sea - a re-evaluation. Tectonophysics 141, 5–22. doi: 10.1016/0040-1951(87)90171-5
Johanson, D. C., White, T. D., and Coppens, Y. (1978). A new species of the genus. Australopithecus (Primates: Hominidae) from the Pliocene of eastern Africa. Kirtlandia 28, 1–14.
Jolivet, L., and Faccenna, C. (2000). Mediterranean extension and the Africa-Eurasia collision. Tectonics 19, 1095–1106. doi: 10.1029/2000TC900018
Kempler, D. (1998). “Eratosthenes Seamount: the possible spearhead of incipient continental collision in the eastern Mediterranean,” in Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Vol. 160, eds A.H.F. Robertson, K.-C. Emeis, C. Richter and A. Camerlenghi (Cham: Springer), 709–721.
King, G., and Bailey, G. (2006). Tectonics and human evolution. Antiquity 80, 265–286. doi: 10.1017/S0003598X00093613
Krijgsman, W., Hilgen, F., Raffi, I., Sierro, F. J., and Wilson, D. (1999). Chronology, causes and progression of the Messinian salinity crisis. Nature 400:652. doi: 10.1038/23231
Krijgsman, W., and Langereis, C. (2000). Magnetostratigraphy of the Zobzit and Koudiat Zarga sections (Taza-Guercif basin, Morocco): implications for the evolution of the Rifian Corridor. Marine Petr. Geol. 17, 359–371. doi: 10.1016/S0264-8172(99)00029-X
LaRiviere, J. P., Ravelo, A. C., Crimmins, A., Dekens, P. S., Ford, H. L., Lyle, M., et al. (2012). Late Miocene decoupling of oceanic warmth and atmospheric carbon dioxide forcing. Nature 486, 97–100. doi: 10.1038/nature11200
Latimer, B., and Lovejoy, C. O. (1989). The calcaneus of Australopithecus afarensis and its implications for the evolution of bipedality. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 78, 369–386. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.1330780306
Le Pichon, X. (2019). Fifty years of plate tectonics: afterthoughts of a witness. Tectonics 38, 2919–2933. doi: 10.1029/2018TC005350
Leakey, M. D. (1981a). Discoveries at Laetoli in northern Tanzania. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 92, 81–86. doi: 10.1016/S0016-7878(81)80008-9
Leakey, M. D. (1981b). Tracks and tools. Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. B Biol. Sci. 292, 95–102. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1981.0017
Leakey, M. D., and Hay, R. L. (1979). Pliocene footprints in the Laetolil Beds at Laetoli, northern Tanzania. Nature 278, 317–323. doi: 10.1038/278317a0
Leroux, E., Aslanian, D., Rabineau, M., Pellen, R., and Moulin, M. (2018). The late Messinian event: a worldwide tectonic revolution. Terra Nova 30, 207–214. doi: 10.1111/ter.12327
Levin, N. E., Quade, J., Simpson, S. W., Semaw, S., and Rogers, M. (2004). Isotopic evidence for Plio–Pleistocene environmental change at Gona, Ethiopia. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 219, 93–110. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00707-6
Lodolo, E., Coren, F., and Ben-Avraham, Z. (2013). How do long-offset oceanic transforms adapt to plate motion changes? The example of the Western Pacific-Antarctic plate boundary. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 118, 1195–1202. doi: 10.1002/jgrb.50109
Lodolo, E., Menichetti, M., Bartole, R., Ben-Avraham, Z., Tassone, A., and Lippai, H. (2003). Magallanes-Fagnano continental transform fault (Tierra del Fuego, southernmost South America). Tectonics 22:1500. doi: 10.1029/2003TC001500
Lu, H., Fulthorpe, C. S., Mann, P., and Kominz, M. A. (2005). Miocene-recent tectonic and climatic controls on sediment supply and sequence stratigraphy: Canterbury Basin, New Zealand. Basin Res. 17, 311–328. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2117.2005.00266.x
Macchiavelli, C., Vergés, J., Schettino, A., Fernàndez, M., Turco, E., Casciello, E., et al. (2017). A new southern North Atlantic isochron map: insights into the drift of the Iberian plate since the Late Cretaceous. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 122, 9603–9626. doi: 10.1002/2017JB014769
MacGregor, D. (2015). History of the development of the East African Rift System: a series of interpreted maps through time. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 101, 232–252. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.09.016
MacLarnon, A. M., and Hewitt, G. P. (1999). The evolution of human speech: The role of enhanced breathing control. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Off. Am. Assoc. Phys. Anthropol. 109, 341–363. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199907)109:3<341::AID-AJPA5>3.0.CO;2-2
Mahoney, J. J., and Coffin, M. F. (1997). Large Igneous Provinces: Continental, Oceanic, and Planetary Flood Volcanism, Vol. 100. New York, NY: American Geophysical Union.
Maslin, M. A., Brierley, C. M., Milner, A. M., Shultz, S., Trauth, M. H., Wilson, K. E., et al. (2014). East African climate pulses and early human evolution. Quaternary Sci. Rev. 101, 1–17. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.06.012
Maslin, M. A., and Christensen, B. (2007). Tectonics, orbital forcing, global climate change, and human evolution in Africa: introduction to the African paleoclimate special volume. J. Hum. Evol. 53, 443–464. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.06.005
Maslin, M. A., Shultz, S., and Trauth, M. H. (2015). A synthesis of the theories and concepts of early human evolution. Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. Biol. Sci. 370:20140064. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0064
Matsubara, Y., and Seno, T. (1980). Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Philippine Sea at 5 my BP. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 51, 406–414. doi: 10.1016/0012-821X(80)90220-4
McNutt, M. K., Caress, D., Reynolds, J., Jordahl, K., and Duncan, R. (1997). Failure of plume theory to explain midplate volcanism in the southern Austral islands. Nature 389:479. doi: 10.1038/39013
Micheels, A., Eronen, J., and Mosbrugger, V. (2009). The Late Miocene climate response to a modern Sahara desert. Global Planetar. Change 67, 193–204. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2009.02.005
Miller, C. S., Gosling, W. D., Kemp, D. B., Coe, A. L., and Gilmour, I. (2016). Drivers of ecosystem and climate change in tropical West Africa over the past ~540,000 years. J. Quaternary Sci. 31, 671–677. doi: 10.1002/jqs.2893
Molnar, P., Boos, W. R., and Battisti, D. S. (2010). Orographic controls on climate and paleoclimate of Asia: thermal and mechanical roles for the Tibetan Plateau. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 38, 77–102. doi: 10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152456
Molnar, P., and England, P. (1990). Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: chicken or egg? Nature 346, 29–34. doi: 10.1038/346029a0
Morley, C. K., Cunningham, S. M., Harper, R. M., and Wescott, W. A. (1992). Geology and geophysics of the Rukwa rift, East Africa. Tectonics 11, 69–81. doi: 10.1029/91TC02102
Moussa, A., Novello, A., Lebatard, A. E., Decarreau, A., Fontaine, C., Barboni, D., et al. (2016). Lake Chad sedimentation and environments during the late Miocene and Pliocene: new evidence from mineralogy and chemistry of the Bol core sediments. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 118, 192–204. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2016.02.023
Neal, C. R., Mahoney, J. J., Kroenke, L. W., Duncan, R. A., and Petterson, M. G. (1997). The Ontong Java Plateau. Geophys. Monograph Am. Geophys. Union 100, 183–216. doi: 10.1029/GM100p0183
Niemitz, C. (2010). The evolution of the upright posture and gait-a review and a new synthesis. Naturwissenschaften 97, 241–263. doi: 10.1007/s00114-009-0637-3
Olaka, L., and Ebinger, C. J. (2023). Tectonic and paleoclimatic setting for hominin evolution in Eastern Africa. Elements, 19, pp.82–87. doi: 10.2138/gselements.19.2.82
Patriat, P., and Parson, L. (1989). A survey of the Indian ocean triple junction trace within the Antarctic plate. Implications for the junction evolution since 15 Ma. Marine Geophys. Res. 11, 89–100. doi: 10.1007/BF00285660
Pérez-Díaz, L., and Eagles, G. (2017). South Atlantic paleo-bathymetry since early Cretaceous. Sci. Rep. 7:11819. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11959-7
Pik, R., Marty, B., Carignan, J., and Lavé, J. (2003). Stability of the Upper Nile drainage network (Ethiopia) deduced from (U–Th)/He thermos-chronometry: implications for uplift and erosion of the Afar plume dome. Earth Planetar. Sci. Lett. 215, 73–88. doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00457-6
Polissar, P. J., Rose, C., Uno, K. T., Phelps, S. R., and deMenocal, P. (2019). Synchronous rise of African C4 ecosystems 10 million years ago in the absence of aridification. Nat. Geoscience 12, 657–660. doi: 10.1038/s41561-019-0399-2
Pollitz, F. F. (1991). Two-stage model of African absolute motion during the last 30 million years. Tectonophysics 194, 91–106. doi: 10.1016/0040-1951(91)90274-V
Purcell, P. G. (2018). Re-imagining and re-imaging the development of the East African Rift. Petr. Geosci. 24, 21–40. doi: 10.1144/petgeo2017-036
Rankenburg, K., Lassiter, J., and Brey, G. (2004). Origin of megacrysts in volcanic rocks of the Cameroon volcanic chain–constraints on magma genesis and crustal contamination. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 147, 129–144. doi: 10.1007/s00410-003-0534-2
Reed, K. E. (1997). Early hominid evolution and ecological change through the African Plio-Pleistocene. J. Hum. Evol. 32, 289–322. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1996.0106
Ring, U., Albrecht, C., and Schrenk, F. (2018). “The east African rift system: tectonics, climate and biodiversity,” in Mountains, Climate and Biodiversity, eds M. C. Hoorn, A. Perrigo, and A. Antonelli (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons), 544. Available online at: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Mountains,+Climate+and+Biodiversity-p-9781119159872
Rozenbaum, A. G., Sandler, A., Stein, M., and Zilberman, E. (2019). The sedimentary and environmental history of Tortonian-Messinian lakes at the east Mediterranean margins (northern Israel). Sedimentary Geol. 383, 268–292. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2018.12.005
Rusby, R. I., and Searle, R. C. (1995). A history of the Easter microplate, 5.25 Ma to present. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 100, 12617–12640. doi: 10.1029/94JB02779
Ryan, W. B., and Cita, M. B. (1978). The nature and distribution of Messinian erosional surfaces-Indicators of a several-kilometer-deep Mediterranean in the Miocene. Marine Geol. 27, 193–230. doi: 10.1016/0025-3227(78)90032-4
Sarewitz, D. R., and Karig, D. E. (1986). Geologic evolution of western Mindoro Island and the Mindoro suture zone, Philippines. J. Southeast Asian Earth Sci. 1, 117–141. doi: 10.1016/0743-9547(86)90026-7
Segev, A., and Schattner, U. (2023). Why does volcanism associated with the Dead Sea fault occur only along its crossing with the Irbid rift and Harrat Ash-Shaam volcanic field? Tectonophysics 848, 229718. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2023.229718
Senut, B., Pickford, M., Gommery, D., Mein, P., Cheboi, K., Coppens, Y., et al. (2001). First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino formation, Kenya). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sci. -Series IIA-Earth Planetar. Sci. 332, 137–144. doi: 10.1016/S1251-8050(01)01529-4
Sepulchre, P., Ramstein, G., Fluteau, F., Schuster, M., Tiercelin, J. J., Brunet, M., et al. (2006). Tectonic uplift and Eastern Africa aridification. Science 313, 1419–1423. doi: 10.1126/science.1129158
Simon, D., Tulbure, M., van den Berg, B., van der Schee, M., de Lange, D., Ellam, G., et al. (2015). Evolution of the Late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways and their impact on regional and global environmental change. Earth-Sci. Rev. 150, 365–392. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.08.007
Spicer, R. A., Farnsworth, A., and Su, T. (2020). Cenozoic topography, monsoons and biodiversity conservation within the Tibetan Region: an evolving story. Plant Divers. 42, 229–254. doi: 10.1016/j.pld.2020.06.011
Tanner, T., Hernández-Almeida, I., Drury, A. J., Guitián, J., and Stoll, H. (2020). Decreasing atmospheric CO2 during the late Miocene cooling. Paleoceanography Paleoclimatol. 35:e2020PA.003925. doi: 10.1029/2020PA003925
Tassone, A., Yagupsky, D., Lodolo, E., Menichetti, M., and Lippai, H. (2005). “Seismic study of the southernmost Andes in the SW Atlantic Ocean: main wrench faults and associated basin,” in 6th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics, 722–725.
Tebbens, S., and Cande, S. (1997). Southeast Pacific tectonic evolution from early Oligocene to present. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 102, 12061–12084. doi: 10.1029/96JB02582
ten Brink, U. S., and Ben-Avraham, Z. (1989). The anatomy of a pull-apart basin: Seismic reflection observations of the Dead Sea Basin. Tectonics 8, 333–350. doi: 10.1029/TC008i002p00333
Tiercelin, J. J., and Lezzar, K. E. (2002). “A 300 million years history of rift lakes in Central and East Africa: an updated broad review,” in The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeolimnology and Biodiversity (Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands), 3–60.
Trauth, M. H., Maslin, M. A., Deino, A., and Strecker, M. R. (2005). Late cenozoic moisture history of East Africa. Science 309, 2051–2053. doi: 10.1126/science.1112964
Vibe, Y., Friedrich, A. M., Bunge, H. P., and Clark, S. R. (2018). Correlations of oceanic spreading rates and hiatus surface area in the North Atlantic realm. Lithosphere 10, 677–684. doi: 10.1130/L736.1
Vignaud, P., Duringer, P., Mackaye, H. T., Likius, A., Blondel, C., Boisserie, J. R., et al. (2002). Geology and palaeontology of the Upper Miocene Toros-Menalla hominid locality, Chad. Nature 418, 152–155. doi: 10.1038/nature00880
Vogt, P. R. (1972). Evidence for global synchronism in mantle plume convection, and possible significance for geology. Nature 240:338. doi: 10.1038/240338a0
Vogt, P. R. (1979). Global magmatic episodes: new evidence and implications for the steady-state mid-oceanic ridge. Geology 7, 93–98. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1979)7<93:GMENEA>2.0.CO;2
Vrba, E. S., Denton, G. H., Partridge, T. C., and Burckle, L. H. (1995). Paleoclimate and Evolution, With Emphasis on Human Origins. London: Yale University Press.
Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Jiang, C., Wei, H., and Wan, J. (2007). Tectonic controls on the late Miocene–Holocene volcanic eruptions of the tengchong volcanic field along the southeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau. J. Asian Earth Sci. 30, 375–389. doi: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2006.11.005
Ward, C., Leakey, M., and Walker, A. (1999). The new hominid species Australopithecus anamensis. Evol. Anthropol. Issues News Rev. Issues News Rev. 7, 197–205. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1999)7:6<197::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-T
Wen, Y., Zhang, L., Holbourn, A. E., Zhu, C., Huntington, K. W., Jin, T., et al. (2023). CO2-forced Late Miocene cooling and ecosystem reorganizations in East Asia. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 120:e2214655120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2214655120
Wessel, P., and Kroenke, L. W. (2000). Ontong Java Plateau and late Neogene changes in Pacific plate motion. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 105, 28255–28277. doi: 10.1029/2000JB900290
Wheeler, P. E. (1984). The evolution of bipedality and loss of functional body hair in hominids. J. Hum. Evol. 13, 91–98. doi: 10.1016/S0047-2484(84)80079-2
White, T. D., Asfaw, B., Beyene, Y., Haile-Selassie, Y., Lovejoy, C. O., Suwa, G., et al. (2009). Ardipithecus ramidus and the paleobiology of early hominids. Science 326, 75–86. doi: 10.1126/science.1175802
WoldeGabriel, G., Haile-Selassie, Y., Renne, P., Hart, W. K., Ambrose, S. H., Asfaw, B., et al. (2001). Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 412, 175–178. doi: 10.1038/35084058
Woolley, A., and Kjarsgaard, B. (2008). Carbonatite occurrences of the world: map and database. Geol. Surv. Canada 22:5796. doi: 10.4095/225115
Wu, G., Duan, A., Liu, Y., Mao, J., Ren, R., Bao, Q., et al. (2015). Tibetan plateau climate dynamics: Recent research progress and outlook. Natl. Sci. Rev. 2, 100–116. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwu045
Young, R. W. (2003). Evolution of the human hand: the role of throwing and clubbing. J. Anat. 202, 165–174. doi: 10.1046/j.1469-7580.2003.00144.x
Keywords: Hominid bipedalism, plate tectonics, East Africa Rift, ripple tectonics, Pacific plate
Citation: Ben-Avraham Z, Rak J, Schubert G, Lodolo E and Schattner U (2024) Did plate tectonic changes lead to the emergence of hominid bipedalism? Front. Environ. Archaeol. 3:1381510. doi: 10.3389/fearc.2024.1381510
Received: 03 February 2024; Accepted: 15 April 2024;
Published: 08 May 2024.
Edited by:
Jackson K. Njau, Indiana University Bloomington, United StatesReviewed by:
Sjoerd Kluiving, VU Amsterdam, NetherlandsCopyright © 2024 Ben-Avraham, Rak, Schubert, Lodolo and Schattner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Emanuele Lodolo, elodolo@ogs.it