Biotically constrained palaeoenvironmental conditions of a mid-Holocene intertidal lagoon on the southern shore of the Arabian Gulf: evidence associated with a whale skeleton at Musaffah, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Stewart, John; Aspinall, S; Beech, Met al.
2011 • In Quaternary Science Reviews, 30, p. 3675-3690
[en] Whale remains (a left and right mandible, scapula, humerus and fragmentary radius and ulna as well as parts of the cranium and rostrum) belonging to a probable humpback whale (Megaptera cf. novaeangliae) were found in the well-described sabkha sequence exposed in the Musaffah Industrial Channel, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. More precisely, the whale remains were found in a series of sediments representing a range of lagoonal facies. The sediments surrounding the whale bones were age-dated at approximately 5200 14C yrs BP and are herefore interpreted to correspond to the previously documented late Flandrian sea-level peak, receding a fall in sea-level which culminated in the supratidal sabkha overprint of the carbonates. associated with the whale remains is an assemblage of molluscs, foraminifera and ostracods. together with the inferred presence of sea grass and algae, these facies are interpreted to indicate a very shallow subtidal to intertidal lagoonal environment. Cirripede remains found associated with the skeleton were identified as those of the whale barnacle Coronula diadema and hence had their origins with the whale. Significantly, the low species diversity of microfossils suggests that higher salinities existed in the mid-Holocene lagoon than are present in modern counterparts. This is here inferred to be related to the onset of continental aridity in Arabia during the mid-Holocene.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology Zoology
Author, co-author :
Stewart, John; Bournemouth University > School of Applied Sciences
Aspinall, S
Beech, M; Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH)
Fenberg, P; Natural History Museum of London > Palaeontology
Hellyer, P
Larkin, N; Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
Lokier, S.W.; The Petroleum Institute > Petroleum Geosciences
Marx, F.G.; University of Otago > Geology
Meyer, M; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Miller, Rebecca ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > Archéologie préhistorique
Rainbow, P.S.; Natural History Museum of London > Zoology
Taylor, J.D.; Natural History Museum of London > Zoology
Whittaker, J.E.; Natural History Museum of London > Palaeontology
Al-Mehsin, K; Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
Strohmenger, C.J.; Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
Biotically constrained palaeoenvironmental conditions of a mid-Holocene intertidal lagoon on the southern shore of the Arabian Gulf: evidence associated with a whale skeleton at Musaffah, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Publication date :
2011
Journal title :
Quaternary Science Reviews
ISSN :
0277-3791
eISSN :
1873-457X
Publisher :
Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science, Oxford, United Kingdom
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