Late quaternary climate records from the Northern Red Sea : results on gravity cores retrieved during the R V METEOR Cruise M44 3

Abstract EN

We present high-resolution marine paleoclimate records obtained from sediment cores retrieved along three profiles extending from the Saudi Arabian coast to the central axis of the northern Red Sea during R/V METEOR cruise M44/3 in spring 1999.

Because of its restricted, desert surrounded location, the northern Red Sea suffered extreme oceanographic changes in the past, resulting in an amplification of paleoclimatic signals in the marine sediments.

The continuous deposition of wind-blown and fluvially transported terrigenous material provides a high temporal resolution of changes in the aridity of the adjacent continents.

Such changes are documented by independent indicators, i.e., variations of the bulk-sediment chemistry (Fe- and Ticontent determined by profiling XRF measurements) and magnetic susceptibility.

Synchronously, changes in the marine environment are reflected by variations in the carbonate content (i.e., Ca- and Sr-intensities).

Our records provide evidence of a strong coupling of both aridity changes in the Near East and paleoceanographic conditions in the northern Red Sea to global climate and sea level changes as well as variations in the monsoonal system.