Late Quaternary paleodune deposits in Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAF: Paleoclimatic implications

Remnants of late Quaternary paleodunes are exposed near the coast of the Arabian Gulf and in large inland playas and interdunal areas in central and western Abu Dhabi Emirate over a distance of >45 km normal to the coast. Paleodunes occur south of Madinat Zayed (lat. 23[degree]35 N), which marks the northern limit of a modern dune field that grades into the mega-dune sand sea of the ar Rub al Khali, Saudi Arabia. Coastal paleodunes are composed of weakly cemented millolid foraminifers, ooids, and rounded biogenic grains, whereas inland and southward the paleodunes show a progressive increase in the proportion of eolian quartz sand. The paleodunes exhibit large-scale trough foresets in remnant exposures 0.5 to 10 m thick, indicating paleowind directions from 65[degree] to 184[degree] (dominantly southeast transport). Scattered paleoplaya remnants provide paleodune scale. Paleoplaya deposits form buttes 30--50 m high. If coeval with the Paleodunes, large-scale paleodune fields are implied (100+ m high), comparable to star dunes and sand mountains at the northwestern edge of the ar Rub al Khali. Based on U-Th isotopic analyses, the carbonate paleodune sands are >160ka and probably >250ka. The carbonate source was a shallow, nearly dry Arabian Gulf at a time when largemore » areas were exposed during a low sea-level stand. Paleowind direction indicates that Pleistocene prevailing winds were northwesterly, the direction of the dominant (winter shamal) wind today. The geographic extend and implied magnitude of the paleodunes suggest large-scale eolian transport of carbonate sand during the Pleistocene disiccation, and admixed quartz sand identifies a youthful stage of contemporaneous evolution of the ar Rub al Khali. Wave-eroded paleodunes probably floor much of the present-day Gulf and extend beneath the modern dunes and sand mountains.« less