Humid phases on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula are consistent with the last two interglacials

palae-oenvironmental proxies. U – Th dating of targeted dense, banded tufa facies, yield ages that are stratigraphically consistent at the landscape scale, and indicate that tufa accumulation occurred during distinct humid phases broadly coeval with the last two warm interglacial Marine Isotope Stages (MIS 7 and MIS 5). For the first time this shows humid intervals in southwest Arabia coincident with the southern coast. There is a simlar pattern emerging further north in the Arabian Peninsula, The Sinai and Levant and further on into continental Europe. Furthermore, tufa δ 18 O ranges from (cid:0) 14.6 to (cid:0) 1.9 ‰ , covering a range similar to those reported for tufa from north African oasis sites and speleothems elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula and The Levant. The lowest δ 18 O values are derived from MIS 5e samples, a pattern in agreement with speleothems in Yemen and Oman, and consistent with an isotopic-enabled climate model simulation for this time slice. The δ 13 C and Sr isotopic compositions of dated tufa samples indicate deposition from shallow-circulating meteoric water, with no geothermal influence. This, along with the δ 18 O values, suggest a freshwater supply that was a potable water source in this landscape. The δ 13 C signatures at Wadi Dabsa are more negative than for parts of north Africa, suggesting Wadi Dabsa may have experienced comparatively higher biomass, thicker soils and wetter conditions with lower evaporative losses. This new record of tufa deposition during the middle and late Pleistocene, suggests for the first time that the west coast of Arabia experienced a similar history of humid phases over the past 250 ka as southern Arabia and the Nefud in the northern interior. These regional changes in hydroclimatic regime occur at timescales coincident with hominin dispersals.

• Publication year

  2023

• Venue

  Quaternary Science Reviews

• Publication date

  2023-11-01

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108333
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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