ICDP workshop on the Deep Drilling in the Turkana Basin project: exploring the link between environmental factors and hominin evolution over the past 4 Myr

A two-phase drilling project in the Turkana Basin aims to revolutionize understanding of hominin evolution by linking environmental factors with tectonic and climatic changes over the past 4 million years. The Deep Drilling in the Turkana Basin (DDTB) project, supported by ICDP, proposes a land-based transect of four cores spanning from 4 Ma to the Middle–Late Pleistocene, followed by a lake-based core targeting the interval from ~1 Ma to present. This approach will provide unprecedented sedimentary records, addressing key questions about the role of climate change in hominin evolution and offering insights for future anthropogenic climate planning. The workshop concluded that such drilling would enhance our knowledge of Homo sapiens' evolution and migration during an inaccessible time period.

Beck, C. C., Berke, M., Feibel, C. S., Foerster, V., Olaka, L., Roberts, H. M., Scholz, C. A., Cantner, K., Noren, A., Kiptoo, G. M., Muirhead, J.,. (2024). ICDP workshop on the Deep Drilling in the Turkana Basin project: exploring the link between environmental factors and hominin evolution over the past 4 Myr. Scientific Drilling, 33(2), 93–108. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-93-2024