Glacial and Pluvial Periods: Their Relationship Revealed by Pleistocene Sediments of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Abstract

Oxygen isotope analyses of planktonic foraminifera from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden indicate that during periods of maximum continental and polar glaciation in the late Pleistocene, the Red Sea was subject to strong evaporation. Between glacial maximums the salinity of the Red Sea was equal to or below that of the open ocean. This suggests that high-latitude glacial periods corresponded in time to interpluvial stages in the present-day desert belt of northern Africa, whereas high-latitude interglacial periods coincided with pluvial stages.