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Detailed Reference Information |
Arvidson, R., Becker, R., Shanabrook, A., Luo, W., Sturchio, N., Sultan, M., Lotfy, Z., Mahmood, A.M. and Alfy, Z.E. (1994). Climatic, eustatic, and tectonic controls on Quaternary deposits and landforms, Red Sea coast, Egypt. Journal of Geophysical Research 99: doi: 10.1029/94JB00037. issn: 0148-0227. |
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The degree to which local climatic variations, eustatic sea level fluctuations, and tectonic uplift have influenced the development of Quaternary marine and fluvial landforms and deposits along the Red Sea coast, Eastern Desert, Egypt was investigated using a combination of remote sensing and field data, age determinations of corals, and numerical simulations. False color composites generated from Landsat Thematic Mapper and SPOT image data, digital elevation models derived from stereophotogrammetric analysis of SPOT data, and field observations document that a ~10-km-wide swath inland from the coast is covered in many places with coalescing alluvial fans of Quaternary age. Wadis cutting through the fans exhibit several pairs of fluvial terraces, and wadi walls expose alluvium interbedded with coralline limestone deposits. Further, three distinct coral terraces are evident along the coastline. Climatic, eustatic, and tectonic uplift controls on the overall system were simulated using a cellular automata algorithm with the following characteristics: (1) uplift as a function of position and time, as defined by the elevations and ages of corals; (2) climatic variations driven by insolation changes associated with Milankovitch cycles; (3) sea level fluctuations based on U/Th ages of coral terraces and eustatic data; and (4) parameterized fluvial erosion and deposition. Results imply that the fans and coralline limestones wee generated in a setting in which the tectonic uplift rate decreased over the Quaternary to negligible values at present. Coralline limestones formed during eustatic highstands when alluvium was trapped upstream and wadis filled with debris. During lowstands, wadis cut into sedimentary deposits; coupled with continuing uplift, fans were dissected, leaving remnant surfaces, and wadi-related terraces were generated by down cutting. Only landforms from the past three to four eustatic sea level cycles (i.e, ~300 to 400 kyr) are likely to have survived erosion and deposition associated with fluvial processes. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994 |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Hydrology, Erosion and sedimentation, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Paleoclimatology, Radio Science, Remote sensing, Information Related to Geographic Region, Africa |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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