Assessing the robustness of geochronological records from the Arabian Peninsula: A new synthesis of the last 20 ka

Abstract

The timing and extent of Late Quaternary climate and environmental changes in the Arabian Peninsula were critical for human demographic changes. High resolution palaeoclimate archives suggest that monsoon variability was a key driver of change, but these records obscure environmental heterogeneity at finer spatial scales. Recent decades have seen the production of new, chronometrically controlled records from a range of new sites, with a greater spatial coverage. However, records often appear contradictory vis a vis the hydro-climatic state of the environment and so synthesising them can be challenging. To enhance collation and interpretation of records we have compiled a new database of terrestrial and coastal environmental chronologies for the Arabian Peninsula over the last 20 ka, a key period of marked hydrological change. The SCAPE (Synthesising Chronologies for Arabian PalaeoEnvironments) database contains records that include >700 luminescence and radiocarbon ages. Robustness criteria are applied to identify the utility of each data source in regional hydroclimate reconstruction. The most robust data provide a unique synthesis of 20 ka of palaeoenvironmental change at sub-regional scales. We find that Arabian environmental change does not necessarily follow broad narratives of ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ states but rather the climatic signal is a mosaic of substantial landscape heterogeneity. SCAPE also highlights regions in which more high-quality geochronological investigation is warranted to refine both temporal and spatial records, signifying important avenues for future research.