摘要
"国际东非湖泊十年计划"(IDEAL)近年的调查工作,大大加深了我们对维多利亚湖演化历史的认识。地震反射剖面证实了湖泊成因是区域掀斜的结果,并提出了湖盆形成的估算年龄为40万年。地震剖面记录的三次主要干旱事件,反映了影响气候变化的10万年的米兰科维奇周期。最近一次干旱导致了原湖泊完全干涸。维多利亚湖水位由14600年前的干湖底上升了。由于洪水输入了许多高营养物质,湖泊水位上升的前500年其初级生产力很高。一些丽鱼科鱼和其它的鱼种游出它们在河中的隐蔽所来到新的湖泊,在随后的14000年中产生了几百个新的特有种。湖泊水位上升一直持续到约14200～13600年前的一次大泛滥。直到11200年前的新仙女木时期湖泊重新封闭,此时形成了永久的外流、开放湖盆的条件。在全新世前半段,湖泊分层逐渐增强,水体相对稳定,硅藻的生产力在距今9800～7500年降到了最低值。这一时期是与全球范围内许多全新世记录中观察到的距今8200年气候事件是一致的,但要长得多。最近6000年间,水体混合程度稳步增强。从开放湖盆所取的短岩芯证明,湖泊条件的变化开始于20世纪30年代,它导致了80年代早期主要生态系统的崩溃。30年代沉积物性质的变化与人口剧增和农业活动加剧的开始相一致,说明这两者的因果关系。可以想象,此湖泊在约9800～7500年前经历了自然条件造成的类似状况。
Recent investigations by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (I DEAL) have significantly advanced our knowledge on the history of Lake Victoria. Seismic reflection profiles confirm the origin of the lake as a result of regional tilting and provide an estimated age of 400 000 years for the lake basin. Three major desiccation events are recorded in the seismic records that may reflect the 100 000 year Milankovitch cycle of climate forcing. The most recent arid period resulted in complete desiccation of the pre-existing lake. Lake Victoria arose from a dry landscape 14 600 calendar years ago (14.6 ka). Primary production was extremely high as lake level rose in its first 500 years, nourished by the high input of nutrients from the flooded landscape. A few species of cichlids and other fish swam out of their fluvial refugia to colonize the new lake, generating hundreds of new endemic species over the ensuing 14 000 years. Lake level rose until a brief overflow event at about 14.2 ka to 13.6 ka. Closed-basin conditions returned during the Younger Dryas until 11.2 ka, when major outflow and open-basin conditions were permanently established. The lake experienced progressively stronger stratification and water-column stability through the first half of the Holocene, and diatom productivity dropped to a minimum from 9.8 to about 7.5 ka. This period coincides with, but is much longer than, the 8.2 ka climatic event that has been observed in many Holocene records from throughout the world. The degree of water-column mixing appears to have steadily increased over the last 6000 years. Short cores from the open lake, document a shift in lake conditions beginning in the 1930s that progressed to the major ecosystem collapse of the early 1980s. The coincidence of the shift in sediment properties in the 1930s with the beginning of rapid expansion of human population and agricultural activity suggests cause and effect. It is conceivable that the lake experienced similar conditions due to natural causes between about 9800 and 7500 years ago.
