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A Pronounced Dry Event Recorded Around 4.2 ka in Brine Sediments from the Northern Red Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Helge W. Arz ,
Frank Lamy  and
Jürgen Pätzold
Helge W. Arz*
Affiliation:
GeoForschungsZentrum-Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Frank Lamy
Affiliation:
GeoForschungsZentrum-Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Jürgen Pätzold
Affiliation:
Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen/RCOM Bremen, Klagenfurterstrasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +49 0 331 288 1302. E-mail address:harz@gfz-potsdam.de (H.W. Arz).
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Abstract

Partly laminated sediments were sampled from the brine-filled, anoxic Shaban Deep basin in the northern Red Sea. At about 4200 cal yr BP more than two millennia of anoxic sedimentation is replaced by a sub-oxic facies strongly suggesting the episodic absence of the brine. At the same time stable oxygen isotopes from surface dwelling foraminifera show a sharp increase (within less than 100 yr) pointing to a strong positive salinity anomaly at the sea surface. This major evaporation event significantly enhanced the renewal of deep water and the subsequent ventilation of the small Shaban Deep basin. The timing and strength of the reconstructed environmental changes around 4200 cal yr BP suggest that this event is the regional expression of a major drought event, which is widely observed in the neighboring regions, and which strongly affected Middle East agricultural civilizations.

Keywords

Northern Red SeaShaban DeepAnoxic sedimentsOxygen isotopes4.2 eventDroughtPaleoclimateMiddle East
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 432 - 441
Copyright
University of Washington

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