Stable isotope records of corals from the northern Red Sea

DOI

We present a study based on X-ray chronologies and the stable isotopic composition of fossil Porites spp. corals from the northern Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea) covering the mid-Holocene period from 5750 to 4450 14C years BP (before present). The stable oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of five specimens reveal regular annual periodicities. Compared with modern Porites spp. from the same environment, the average seasonal delta18O amplitude of the fossil corals is higher (by ca. 0.35-0.60 per mil ), whereas annual growth rates are lower (by ca. 3.5 to 2 mm/year). This suggests stronger seasonality of sea surface temperatures and increased variability of the oxygen isotopic composition of the sea water due to changes in the precipitation and evaporation regime during the mid-Holocene. Most likely, summer monsoon rains reached the northern end of the Red Sea at that time. Average annual coral growth rates are diminished probably due to an increased input and resuspension of terrestrial debris to the shallow marine environment during more humid conditions. Our results corroborate published reports of paleodata and model simulations suggesting a northward migration of the African monsoon giving rise to increased seasonalities during the mid-Holocene over northeastern Africa and Arabia.

Supplement to: Moustafa, Yaser Ahmed (2000): Paleoclimatic reconstructions of the northern Red Sea during the Holocene inferred from stable isotope records of modern and fossil corals and molluscs. Berichte aus dem Fachbereich Geowissenschaften der Universität Bremen, 153, 102 pp

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.712061
Related Identifier IsSupplementTo https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-ep000102745
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.1007/s005310050302
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.712061
Provenance
Creator Moustafa, Yaser Ahmed; Pätzold, Jürgen ORCID logo; Loya, Y ORCID logo; Wefer, Gerold ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2000
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 14 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (34.933 LON, 29.517 LAT); Eilat