The paradox of tropical karst morphology in the coral reefs of the arid Middle East
The paradox of tropical karst morphology in the coral reefs of the arid Middle East
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DOI：
10.1130/g30710.1
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发表时间：
2010-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.8
通讯作者：
Renaud, P. G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Purkis, S. J.;Rowlands, G. P.;Renaud, P. G.
尽管阿拉伯湾和红海之间的珊瑚礁生长的差异，一个共同的独特的模式，多边形窗台周围的积水洼地始终发生在浅水区。从卫星上看，这些海底是网状的，像迷宫一样。尽管目前降雨量很少，但这种模式最好的解释是在海平面较低的时期石灰岩的岩溶溶解。这是一个悖论，因为这种精细规模的岩溶作用仅限于降水量比目前在阿拉伯半岛观察到的要多得多的地区。我们解决了这个明显的矛盾，发展更新世-全新世的海平面和气候的红海和阿拉伯湾的年表，并通过使用模式分析和计算机模拟，揭示这些结构的形成机制。我们证明，这种模式可以作为一个第四纪签名的古湿度在现在的超干旱红海和阿拉伯湾。
Despite differences in reef growth between the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea, a common distinctive pattern of polygonal sills surrounding ponded depressions consistently occurs in shallow water. Viewed from a satellite, these seafloors are reticulated and maze like. Despite little current rainfall, this patterning is best explained by karst dissolution of limestone during periods of lower sea level. This is a paradox since such fine-scale karstification is confined to areas with considerably more precipitation than currently observed in Arabia. We resolve this apparent contradiction by developing a Pleistocene-Holocene chronology of sea level and climate for the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, and through the use of pattern analysis and computer simulation, reveal the mechanism of formation for these structures. We demonstrate that this patterning can be taken as a Quaternary signature of paleohumidity in the now hyperarid Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.