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Journal ArticleDOI

Holocene shoreline variations in the Persian Gulf: Example of the Umm al-Qowayn lagoon (UAE)

TL;DR: The United Arab Emirate lagoons display several generations of successively settled coastal spits, the study of which allows reconstruction of the Holocene shoreline changes from the end of the last marine transgression as mentioned in this paper.
About: This article is published in Quaternary International.The article was published on 1995-01-01. It has received 38 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Marine transgression & Holocene.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Holocene vegetation history of the Arabian Peninsula is poorly understood, with few palaeobotanical studies to date as discussed by the authors, and only one study has been carried out at Awafi, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE.
Abstract: The Holocene vegetation history of the Arabian Peninsula is poorly understood, with few palaeobotanical studies to date. At Awafi, Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, a 3.3 m lake sediment sequence records the vegetation development for the period 8500 cal. yr BP to � 3000 cal. yr BP. 13 C isotope, pollen and phytolith analyses indicate that C3 Pooid grassland with a strong woody element existed during the early Holocene (between 8500 and 6000 cal. yr BP) and became replaced by mixed C3 and C4 grasses with a strong C4 Panicoid tall grass element between 5900 and 5400 cal. yr BP. An intense, arid event occurred at 4100 cal. yr BP when the lake desiccated and was infilled by Aeolian sand. From 4100 cal. yr BP the vegetation was dominated by C4 Chloridoid types and Cyperaceae, suggesting an incomplete vegetation cover and Aeolian dune reactivation owing to increased regio- nal aridity. These data outline the ecosystem dynamics and carbon cycling in response to palaeomon- soon and north-westerly variability during the Holocene. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

151 citations


Cites background from "Holocene shoreline variations in th..."

  • ...The present shorelines were reached by 6000 yr BP and exceeded as global sea level rose 1–2 m above its present level (Lambeck, 1996; Bernier et al., 1995)....

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Book
19 Jun 2003
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss climate changes in the Levant during the Late Quaternary and during the Holocene in Europe, Africa and Asia during the last few decades of the 20th century.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgements 1. Climate changes in the Levant during the Late Quaternary 2. Climate changes during the Holocene in Europe 3. Climate changes during the Holocene in East Asia (China, Korea and Japan) 4. Climate changes during the Holocene in Africa 5. Climate changes over Western USA and Mexico during the Holocene 6. General conclusions References.

133 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article reviewed new paleoenvironmental, archaeological, and genetic evidence from the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran to explore the possibility of a demographic refugium dubbed the Gulf Oasis, which is posited to have been a vitally significant zone for populations residing in southwest Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene.
Abstract: The emerging picture of prehistoric Arabia suggests that early modern humans were able to survive periodic hyperarid oscillations by contracting into environmental refugia around the coastal margins of the peninsula. This paper reviews new paleoenvironmental, archaeological, and genetic evidence from the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran to explore the possibility of a demographic refugium dubbed the “Gulf Oasis,” which is posited to have been a vitally significant zone for populations residing in southwest Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. These data are used to assess the role of this large oasis, which, before being submerged beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean, was well watered by the Tigris, Euphrates, Karun, and Wadi Batin rivers as well as subterranean aquifers flowing beneath the Arabian subcontinent. Inverse to the amount of annual precipitation falling across the interior, reduced sea levels periodically exposed large portions of the Arabo-Persian Gulf, equal at times to ...

104 citations


Cites background from "Holocene shoreline variations in th..."

  • ...…into the Arabo-Persian Gulf show that the Indian Ocean ingressed more than 1,000 km between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago (e.g., Al-Farraj 2005; Bernier et al. 1995; Bruthans et al. 2006; Cooke 1987; Evans, Kirkham, and Carter 2002; Ivanovich, Vita-Finzi, and Hennig 1983; Lambeck 1996; Teller…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The stories of a great flood, recorded in the Bible as Noah's Flood and in Babylonian history on clay tablets (excavated in the Tigris-Euphrates delta) as the Epic of Gilgamesh, are a record of this rapid postglacial flooding of the floor of the Persian Gulf as mentioned in this paper.

92 citations


Cites background from "Holocene shoreline variations in th..."

  • ...Our observa- tions are that south of about 40}50 km from the coast, modern dunes contain (10% carbonate; this limit may re#ect the southernmost extent of aeolian sands that were derived from marine sediments deposited in the coastal lowlands during the mid-Holocene high sea stand....

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  • ...…relate to the mid-Holocene high sea level that is dated at 4}6000 yr BP (Felber et al., 1978; Evans et al., 1969; McClure and Vita-Finzi, 1982; Bernier et al., 1995; Lambeck, 1996); new radiocarbon dates on carbonates in these raised bioclastic deposits (2}3 m above sea level) from west of…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Liwa region of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the most distinctive geomorphological features of the Rub Al Khali desert of southern Arabia as mentioned in this paper, characterized by a sharp crescentic boundary coincident with a N-S elevation drop of ∼65 m with the transverse ridges in Al Qâfa to the north.
Abstract: The Liwa region of the United Arab Emirates is one of the most distinctive geomorphological features of the Rub Al Khali desert of southern Arabia. Characterized by a sharp crescentic boundary coincident with a N-S elevation drop of ∼65 m with the transverse ridges in Al Qâfa to the north, Liwa is an area of some of the world9s largest megabarchan dunes. Deep drilling of continuous cores has provided an opportunity to observe the internal structure and age of these two ergs. Subsurface stratigraphy is complex, reflecting rapid facies transitions between dune and interdune sub-environments. Most of the cored sediment is dominated by cross-bedded and structureless sand units of inferred eolian (transverse dune) depositional origin. A total of 56 optical ages for sand-sized quartz grains extracted from these cores provide a chronological framework for deposition of the late Quaternary ergs. A marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 erg is identified north of the Liwa crescent in the Al Qâfa region, which reaches vertical thicknesses >100 m. A MIS 1 erg in the form of megabarchan dunes is recorded south of the Liwa crescent. This was deposited on a pre–MIS 5 land surface, since ca. 6 ka, over a period of just a few thousand years. Contemporary bypassing of eolian sands via superimposed dunes in both Al Qâfa and Liwa appears to be in equilibrium with the current wind regime. A consideration of a variety of factors that control the availability, mobilization, and preservation of eolian sediments and resulting bedforms leads us to infer that the system is not sediment-supply or transport limited. Instead, the system is preservation limited, being controlled by a correlated combination of sea level and precipitation. Both of these factors are strongly linked to global climate variations in the eccentricity (ca. 100 ka) band. Paradoxically, the bulk of the preserved record of eolian activity in the southern Arabian Peninsula occurs within relatively humid interglacial phases rather than arid intervals. Evidence of eolian deposition during arid phases may not for the most part be preserved in large areas of the sand sea. Observed contrasts in the preserved record of eolian activity between Al Qâfa and Liwa, and the Wahiba Sand Sea, may in part relate to contrasting eolian bedform morphology.

72 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
31 May 1990-Nature
TL;DR: Uranium-thorium ages obtained by mass spectrometry from corals raised off the island of Barbados confirm the high precision of this technique over at least the past 30,000 years as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Uranium-thorium ages obtained by mass spectrometry from corals raised off the island of Barbados confirm the high precision of this technique over at least the past 30,000 years. Comparison of the U-Th ages with C-14 ages obtained on the Holocene samples shows that the U-Th ages are accurate, because they accord with the dendrochronological calibration. Before 9,000 yr BP, the C-14 ages are systematically younger than the U-Th ages, with a maximum difference of about 3500 yr at about 20,000 yr BP. The U-Th technique thus provides a way of calibrating the radiocarbon timescale beyond the range of dendrochronological calibration.

1,328 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 1976-Nature
TL;DR: This article reported the results of a preliminary attempt to establish the age of a series of late Quaternary lake sediments in the Rub' al Khali desert of the Arabian Peninsula.
Abstract: A GOOD deal of information on late Quaternary moist periods in East Africa and Australia, derived largely from the dating and analysis of lake sediments, has been collected over recent years1–4. Although fossil lake beds have long been known to exist in Arabia5–7, they have received scant attention. I report here the results of a preliminary attempt to establish the age of a series of late Quaternary lake sediments in the Rub' al Khali desert of the Arabian Peninsula. More detailed palaeoclimatic implications will be considered elsewhere later.

272 citations