Eustatic control of late Quaternary sea-level change in the Arabian/Persian Gulf

Abstract

Accurate sea-level reconstruction is critical in understanding the drivers of coastal evolution. Inliers of shallow marine limestone and aeolianite are exposed as zeugen (carbonate-capped erosional remnants) on the southern coast of the Arabian/Persian Gulf. These have generally been accepted as evidence of a eustatically driven, last-interglacial relative sea-level highstand preceded by a penultimate glacial-age lowstand. Instead, recent optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating suggests a last glacial age for these deposits, requiring >100 m of uplift since the last glacial maximum in order to keep pace with eustatic sea-level rise and implying the need for a wholesale revision of tectonic, stratigraphic and sea-level histories of the Gulf. These two hypotheses have radically different implications for regional neotectonics and land–sea distribution histories. Here we test these hypotheses using OSL dating of the zeugen formations. These new ages are remarkably consistent with earlier interpretations of the formations being last interglacial or older in age, showing that tectonic movements are negligible and eustatic sea-level variations are responsible for local sea-level changes in the Gulf. The cause of the large age differences between recent studies is unclear, although it appears related to large differences in the measured accumulated dose in different OSL samples.

Late Quaternary sea-level changes of the Persian Gulf

“…It is therefore possible that the elemental concentrations, as measured, do not reflect the average concentrations during the burial history of the sediments. Similar disequilibrium issues were identified in Wood et al (2012) and Stevens et al (2014) from Persian coastal samples. In these studies, conservative (large) uncertainties were applied to correct ages for disequilibrium.…”

Late Holocene to Recent aragonite‐cemented transgressive lag deposits in the Abu Dhabi lagoon and intertidal sabkha

“…The evolution of modern Abu Dhabi nearshore topography is related to eustatic changes induced by Quaternary glaciation events (Evans et al, 1969;Stevens et al, 2014;Lokier et al, 2015). Glacioeustatic sea-level fall during the early and middle Pleistocene (>250 ka), resulted in the covering of the Abu Dhabi region by siliciclastic aeolian dunes (Ghayathi Formation; Evans et al, 1969;Stevens et al, 2014). Subsequent sea-level rise (ca 250 to 200 ka) resulted in a marine transgression and associated carbonate deposition.…”

“…Renewed regression culminated in exposure and aeolian reworking of these carbonates to produce a carbonate variant of the Ghayathi Formation. A major transgressive event at ca 125 ka (Marine Isotope Stage -MIS -5.5) resulted in renewed flooding of the Gulf, and deposition of the overlying Fuwayrit Formation (Stevens et al, 2014). The last glaciation (ca 18 ka) resulted in a regional sea-level fall to ca 110 to 130 m lower than present day sea-level (Whitehouse & Bradley, 2013).…”

Mapping Sabkha Land Surfaces in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using Landsat 8 Data, Principal Component Analysis and Soil Salinity Information

“…Main contributors to sabkha formation in the study area are the eustatic sea levels, in the late Quaternery [10] and north (Shamal) winds and currents, which resulted in erosion of Pleistocene sand dunes some 7000 years ago [1]. On northern coast of UAE, Sabkha emerged as a product of global sea-transgression and regression cycles during the latter part of Pleistocene time.…”