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Stormier mid-Holocene southwest Indian Ocean due to poleward trending tropical cyclones

Abstract

Geological evidence of past storminess is fundamental for contextualizing long-term climate variability and investigating future climate. Unlike the Atlantic and Pacific basins, robust storminess reconstructions do not exist for most of the Indian Ocean, despite the hazard that tropical cyclones pose to the SE African margin. Here we combine seismic stratigraphy with analysis of marine sediment cores to look for regionally representative storm-related sediment deposits (tempestites) intercalated in shoreface sediments from the SW Indian Ocean off South Africa. Tempestites, represented by hummocky seismic units, whose sediments have clear marine geochemical signatures, are found to have been deposited between 7.0 and 4.8 cal kyr BP, when sea level was between 0 and +3 m above present. Deposition and preservation of the tempestites reflect unprecedented tropical cyclone impacts, associated with periods of strongly positive Indian Ocean Dipole anomalies and linked to warmer sea surface temperatures. Future climate projections suggest stronger positive IOD anomalies and further intensification and poleward migration of tropical cyclones, like their mid-Holocene predecessors. Given the rarity of tropical cyclone landfalls in South Africa, this urges a revaluation of hazards in areas along the SE African coast likely to become more vulnerable to landfalling tropical cyclones in the future.

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Fig. 1: Durban shelf and study area with multibeam bathymetry, seismic coverage and core sites.
Fig. 2: Zoomed in ultra-high-resolution seismic stratigraphy of the lower shoreface.
Fig. 3: Downcore variations and chronology.
Fig. 4: Lithologic and geochemical variations compared with major climatic oscillations in the SW Indian Ocean (SWIO).

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Data availability

Samples and data (inorganic data, radiocarbon analyses) are respectively archived at the GeoB Core Repository and Pangaea (www.pangaea.de), both located at MARUM, University of Bremen.

Seismic and core data (geochemical, grain size and chronology) are available at Pangaea (www.pangaea.de). Modelling data and results are available on request from A.G. or C.L.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Germany) within the project Regional Archives for Integrated Investigations (RAiN, 03G0840A) (M.Z.). We thank the captain, crew and scientists of the METEOR M102 cruise for facilitating the recovery of the studied material, and eThekwini Municipality for access to multibeam bathymetry.

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A.G. led the paper conceptualization, data collection, analysis and figure drafting, and together with J.A.G.C. managed the paper writing and editorial review. C.L. performed the modelling and assisted in data analysis, writing, figure drafting and editorial review. S.D. performed the laboratory analyses and figure drafting. A.H. and M.Z. assisted with data collection, writing and editorial review. M.Z. was the principal funding recipient.

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Correspondence to A. N. Green.

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Peer review information Nature Geoscience thanks John Goff, Stefano Patruno and Maarten Van Daele for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor(s) James Super.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Seismic reflection profiles and interpretations of the seismic stratigraphy of the Durban shelf.

a, full record including Fig. 2a. b, full record including Fig. 2b.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Bed shear stress represented according to the thresholds for sediment mobility.

Model results for the largest recorded storm offshore Durban for: a, coarse sand, b, fine gravel, and the 100 yr return-period storm for c, coarse sand, d, fine gravel. Areas below threshold are blanked. Note that at the GeoB18304-1 site, granule-size sediment would be mobilised, but not at the GeoB18303-2 site.

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Green, A.N., Cooper, J.A.G., Loureiro, C. et al. Stormier mid-Holocene southwest Indian Ocean due to poleward trending tropical cyclones. Nat. Geosci. 15, 60–66 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00842-w

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