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Geological Setting, Palaeoenvironment and Archaeology of the Red Sea pp 709–723Cite as

Results of Micropalaeontological Analyses on Sediment Core FA09 from the Southern Red Sea Continental Shelf

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Abstract

This study presents results of an examination of planktonic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the upper half of a 2.64 m-long sediment gravity core retrieved from the southern Red Sea continental shelf. The examined interval corresponds to the time period of the last 16 kyr. The microfaunal associations show concurrent and concomitant variations at long and short time scales. The examined deglacial interval suggests that the Strait of Bab al Mandab most likely remained open, connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean, although this connection was extremely limited. Productive waters associated with inflow from the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea prevailed during the Late Glacial and Early Holocene periods (~10 to ~6 ka BP), a phase of intensified summer monsoons in the Arabian Sea. The Late Holocene period shows a reduction of productivity and sea floor oxygenation during which time the winter monsoon was stronger. Short-term variations in the abundances of planktonic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages have been linked to events of increased aridity within the Late Glacial and Holocene intervals.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Research Council through ERC Advanced Grant269586 ‘DISPERSE: Dynamic Landscapes, Coastal Environments and Human Dispersals’ to Geoff Bailey and Geoffrey King, 2011–2016. We thank HRH Crown Prince Salman bin Abul Aziz Al Saud and the Department of General Survey of the Ministry of Defense and HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) for permits and general support, and the President of the Saudi Geological Survey, Dr. Zohair Nawab and his staff, in particular Dr. Najeeb Rasul, for additional support and for their invitation to participate in the Jeddah Workshop. In addition, we thank Geoff Bailey and the personnel at Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC, Glasgow, Scotland) for arranging the radiocarbon analysis. Finally, we give special thanks to the crew of the R/V Aegaeo for their great and responsible work during the survey. This is DISPERSE contribution no. 45.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, Department of Geology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

    Maria Geraga & Spyros Sergiou

  2. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 19013, Anavyssos, Athens, Greece

    Dimitris Sakellariou

  3. Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Eelco Rohling

  4. Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK

    Eelco Rohling

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  1. Maria Geraga
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  2. Spyros Sergiou
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  4. Eelco Rohling
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Correspondence to Maria Geraga .

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  1. Center for Marine Geology, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Najeeb M.A. Rasul

  2. Stewart Geophysical Consultants Pty. Ltd., College Park, SA, Australia

    Ian C.F. Stewart

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Geraga, M., Sergiou, S., Sakellariou, D., Rohling, E. (2019). Results of Micropalaeontological Analyses on Sediment Core FA09 from the Southern Red Sea Continental Shelf. In: Rasul, N., Stewart, I. (eds) Geological Setting, Palaeoenvironment and Archaeology of the Red Sea. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99408-6_32

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