Lake Mahoma

Wildfires are an escalating global hazard which threaten ecosystems, air quality, and societies. Although high tropical mountains have generally been considered too cool and moist to burn, recent high-elevation wildfires suggest the emergence of a new threat to Africa's highest mountains. A lack of historical records of fire in these environments obscures our understanding of fire impacts and Afromontane ecosystem resilience. We present two lacustrine sedimentary charcoal records the Rwenzori Mountains, Central Africa: Lake Mahoma (2,990 m. a.s.l.) at mid-elevation and Lake Kopello (4,017 m. a.s.l.) at high elevation. We present our data as a charcoal accumulation rate of the >250 µm charcoal size fraction. We also present pollen taxa percentages of total in Lake Mahoma for Poaceae, Podocarpus, and Celtis africana.