caa a22 4500 475827953 CHVBK 20180406123833.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s005310050302 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s005310050302 Mid-Holocene stable isotope record of corals from the northern Red Sea [Elektronische Daten] [Y. A. Moustafa, J. Pätzold, Y. Loya, G. Wefer] 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 δ 18O amplitude of the fossil corals is higher (by ca. 0.35-0.60‰), 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. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2000 Key words African monsoon nationallicence Corals nationallicence Holocene nationallicence Northern Red Sea nationallicence Stable isotopes nationallicence Moustafa Y. A. National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Suez, Egypt, EG aut Pätzold J. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen D-28334 Bremen, Germany e-mail: yaser@uni-bremen.de Fax: +49-421-2183116, DE aut Loya Y. Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, I-69978 Tel-Aviv, Israel, IL aut Wefer G. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen D-28334 Bremen, Germany e-mail: yaser@uni-bremen.de Fax: +49-421-2183116, DE aut https://doi.org/10.1007/s005310050302 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s005310050302 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Moustafa Y. A. National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Suez, Egypt, EG aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pätzold J. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen D-28334 Bremen, Germany e-mail: yaser@uni-bremen.de Fax: +49-421-2183116, DE aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Loya Y. Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, I-69978 Tel-Aviv, Israel, IL aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wefer G. Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen D-28334 Bremen, Germany e-mail: yaser@uni-bremen.de Fax: +49-421-2183116, DE aut Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer