Abstract
Fulgurites are formed by lightning strikes to sandy ground. The paper describes the occurence of fulgurites in the southern Sahara (eastern Niger) and their palaeoclimatic relevance. All the studied fulgurite fragments were found near to palaeolake sediments in midslope positions of interdune depressions. The mineralogical composition (lechatelierite, cristobalite, chalcedony, opal) of the fulgurites is related to the palaeo-environmental conditions of the semi-(arid) regions and to the melting conditions during the fulgurite forming lightning strike to the ground.
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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Sponholz, B. (2004). Fulgurites as palaeoclimatic indicators - the proof of fulgurite fragments in sand samples. In: Smykatz-Kloss, W., Felix-Henningsen, P. (eds) Paleoecology of Quaternary Drylands. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 102. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-44930-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-44930-0_5
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-40345-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44930-0
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