2012 wildfire was Rwenzori alpine zone’s first major fire in 12,000 years

A wildfire that swept through the high-altitude alpine zone of Africa's Rwenzori Mountains in 2012 has been identified as the first large-scale fire to strike the region in at least 12,000 years, according to a study published in Nature. By analysing ancient lake sediment cores (cylindrical samples of layered mud from the lake bed), researchers reconstructed the mountains' fire history and discovered that the 2012 blaze left an unprecedented charcoal signature, more than 100 times greater than anything recorded in the previous 12 millennia. The findings suggest that climate change and growing human influence are exposing one of Africa's most unique mountain ecosystems to a threat it had largely escaped throughout the Holocene.Lake sediments preserved a 12,000-year record of fireThe research team collected sediment cores from two lakes in the Rwenzori Mountains, which straddle the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.