Paleoenvironments in the Chalbi Basin of Kenya

Abstract

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in the shells of the freshwater gastropod, Melanoides tuberculata, collected at five early Holocene sites in the Chalbi Basin of north-central Kenya, have been measured. These ratios indicate that at 10,000–11,000 yr.ago, paleo Lake Chalbi was a freshwater lake of considerable stability, despite its large extent and shallow depth.