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Sediment characteristics and molluscan fossils of the Farasan Islands shorelines, southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

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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.

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Geology Department, Faculty of Marine Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80207, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Rashad A. Bantan & Ramadan H. Abu-Zied

  2. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, El-Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Ramadan H. Abu-Zied

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  1. Rashad A. Bantan
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  2. Ramadan H. Abu-Zied
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Correspondence to Rashad A. Bantan.

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0851-3

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