Abstract
The Farasan Islands are located about 40 km offshore of Jizan area, southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. This is a preliminary study aiming to collect shoreline sediments from 17 stations to describe their main lithologic characters and identify the dominant molluscs that could help to evaluate the environmental conditions of these islands. Also, a sediment core FARA2 was collected from the intertidal area of Khor As Sailah Lagoon to see the development of shoreline sediments in this area with time. The results indicated that the shoreline sediments of the Farasan Islands comprised mainly of white, biogenic sand enriched in remains of corals, molluscs, calcareous algae, and benthic foraminifera. Thirty-four mollusc species were recorded from these sediments. Among them, Strombus fasciatus, Strombus tricornis, Chicoreus ramosus, Chicoreus virgineus, Tridacna maxima, and Tridacna squamosa were the most common molluscan in/near the shoreline sediments of Farasan Islands. Frequency abundances of sediment grain-size fractions in the core FARA2 indicated that the shoreline of the Khor As Sailah Lagoon is developing towards shallow intertidal setting due to high production of biogenic sediments by reefal communities. Metal concentrations (Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn) in the sediment of the core FARA2 were stable throughout, showing no remarkable changes. This finding could indicate that flux of detrital components by fresh water runoff or wind-blown dust over the Farasan Islands was un-detectable during the deposition of these sediments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott RT, Dance SP (1982) Compendium of seashells—a full-color guide to more than 4,200 of the world’s marine shells. Dutton, New York, 411 p
Abu-Zied RH, Bantan RA, Basaham AS, El Mamoney MH, Al-Washmi HA (2011) Composition, distribution, and taphonomy of nearshore benthic foraminifera of the Farasan Islands, Southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. J Foraminifer Res 41:349–362
Abu-Zied RH, Basaham AS, El Sayed MA (2013) Effect of municipal wastewaters on bottom sediment geochemistry and benthic foraminifera of two Red Sea coastal inlets, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Environ Earth Sci 68:451–469
Bailey G, Al-Sharekh A, Flemming N, Lambeck K, Momber G, Sinclair A, Vita-Finzi C (2007) Coastal prehistory in the southern Red Sea Basin, underwater archaeology, and the Farasan Islands. Proc Semin Arab Studies 37:1–16
Bantan RA (1999) Geology and sedimentary environments of Farasan Bank (Saudi Arabia) southern Red Sea: a combined remote sensing and field study. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of London, United Kingdom, 296 p
Basaham AS (2009) Geochemistry of Jizan shelf sediments, southern Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 2:301–310
Behairy AKA, Jaubert J (1983) Ecology of a coral reef complex and of an inshore lagoon near Sharm Obhur, Red Sea (Jeddah—Saudi Arabia). Final Report, Faculty of Marine Science, King Abdulaziz University and French Oceanographic Mission in the Middle-East, Nice University, 194 p
Beltagi SM, Ghamrawy MS (1984) Studies on some pelecypods and gastropods of shallow water in the region of North Jeddah (Red Sea). Proc Symp Coral Reef Environ Red Sea, Jeddah, pp 417–470
Blank HR, Johnson PR, Getting ME, Simmons GC (1986) Geologic map of the Jizan Quadrangle Sheet, vol 16. Ministry of Petroleum, Directorate General of Mineral Resources, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, p 25
Brighton AG, Sedgwick MA (1931) The geology of Farasan Island, Jizan and Kamaran Island, Red Sea. Geol Mag LXVIII Pt 3 Echinoidea pp 323–333
Cox LR (1931) The geology of the Farasan Island, Gizan and Kammaran Island, Red Sea. Part 2, molluscan palaeontology. Geol Mag 68:1–13
Crowther AL (2011) Class Anthozoa Ehrenberg, 1834. In: Zhang ZQ (ed) Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148:19–23
Dabbagh A, Hotzl H, Schnnier H (1984) Farasan Islands. In: Jado AR, Zotl JG (eds) Quaternary period in Saudi Arabia vol 2. Springer, Berlin, pp 212–218
Demarchi B, Williams MG, Milner N, Russell N, Bailey G, Penkman K (2011) Amino acid racemization dating of marine shells: a mound of possibilities. Quat Int 239:114–124
Fairbanks RC (1989) A 17,000 year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature 342:637–642
Gladstone W (2002) Fisheries of the Farasan Islands (Red Sea). Naga, WorldFish Cent Q 25:30–34
Guilcher A (1955) Geomorphologie de l’extremite septentrionale du banc corallien Farasan (Mer Rouge). Ann Inst Oceanogr 30:55–100
Heiri O, Lotter AF, Lemcke G (2001) Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results. J Paleolimnol 25:101–110
Jantzen C, Wild C, El-Zibdah M, Roa-Quiaoit HA, Haacke C, Richter C (2008) Photosynthetic performance of giant clams, Tridacna maxima and T. squamosa, Red Sea. Mar Biol 155:211–221
Khalil HM (2011) Pliocene–Pleistocene stratigraphy and macrofauna of the Farasan Islands, South East Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci. doi:10.1007/s12517-011-0300-0
Macfadyen WA (1930) The geology of Farasan Island, Gizan and Kamaran Island, Red Sea. Part 1, general geology. Geol Mag 67:310–315
Mooney WD, Gettings ME, Blank HR, Healy JH (1985) Saudi Arabia seismic refraction profile. A traveltime interpretation of crustal and upper mantle structure. Tectonophysics 111:173–246
Morcos SA (1970) Physical and chemical oceanography of the Red Sea. Oceanogr Mar Biol Ann Rev 8:73–202
Price ARG (1982) Echinoderms of Saudi Arabia—comparison between echinoderm faunas of Arabian Gulf, SE Arabia, Red Sea and Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez. Fauna Saudi Arabia 4:3–21
Robinson MK (1979) Atlas of N. Atlantic Ocean–Indian Ocean monthly mean temperatures and mean salinities of the surface layer. United States Naval Oceanographic Office, Reference Publication 18
Rohling EJ (1994) Glacial conditions in the Red Sea. Paleoceanography 9:653–660
Rohling EJ, Fenton M, Jorissen FJ, Bertrand P, Gansen G, Caulet JP (1998) Magnitudes of sea level lowstands of the past 500,000 years. Nature 394:162–165
Rosewater J (1965) The Family Tridacnidae in the Indo-Pacific. Indo-Pacific Mollusca 1:347–408
Sharabati DP (1984) Red Sea shells. KPI, London, 127 p
Skipwith P (1973) The Red Sea and coastal plain of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources, Technical Record TR-1973-1, 149 p
Soliman GN (2001) Invertebrate zoology: the Mideastern invertebrate fauna, part II—the coelomates. Palm, Cairo, 520 p
Acknowledgments
This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. 479/150/431. The authors acknowledge the DSR technical and financial support, and Bandar Al-Zahrany and Ali Al-Shamarany for their fieldwork assistance. We especially thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly improved the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bantan, R.A., Abu-Zied, R.H. Sediment characteristics and molluscan fossils of the Farasan Islands shorelines, southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 7, 773–787 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0851-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0851-3