Laos stalagmite samples may lend new understanding to the end of the Green Sahara

New evidence uncovered in Laos may lend understanding to a possible connection between the end of the Green Sahara and a crippling megadrought that struck Southeast Asia between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.

The new evidence involved collecting stalagmite samples from caves in northern Laos, according to a release from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The effort is part of NSF-funded research being conducted by several universities, among them William Paterson University of New Jersey, the University of California, Irvine, the University of Pennsylvania.

"In this study, we provide the first proof of a strong link between the end of the Green Sahara and the Southeast Asian monsoon failure," co-author Kathleen Johnson of UC Irvine said in the press release. "Our high-resolution and well-dated record suggests a strong connection between Northern Africa and mainland Southeast Asia during this time."

While scientists have studied the end of the Green Sahara on population patterns in regions within and closer to Africa, this is the first time research has looked at connections to populations patterns so far from North Africa, according to the press release.