Climatic, eustatic, and tectonic controls on Quaternary deposits and landforms, Red Sea Coast, Egypt

Abstract

The degree to which local climatic variations, eustatic sea level fluctuations, and tectonic uplift have influenced the development of Quaternary marine and fluvial landforms and deposits along the Red Sea coast, Eastern Desert, Egypt was investigated using a combination of remote sensing and field data, age determinations of corals, and numerical simulations. False color composites generated from Landsat Thematic Mapper and SPOT image data, digital elevation models derived from steieophotogrammetric analysis of SPOT data, and field observations document that a ∼10‐km‐wide swath inland from the coast is covered in many places with coalescing alluvial fans of Quaternary age. Wadis cutting through the fans exhibit several pairs of fluvial terraces, and wadi walls expose alluvium interbedded with coralline limestone deposits. Further, three distinct coral terraces are evident along the coastline. Climatic, eustatic, and tectonic uplift controls on the overall system were simulated using a cellular automata algorithm with the following characteristics: (1) uplift as a function of position and time, as defined by the elevations and ages of corals; (2) climatic variations driven by insolation changes associated with Milankovitch cycles; (3) sea level fluctuations based on U/Tb ages of coral terraces and eustatic data; and (4) parameterized fluvial erosion and deposition. Results imply that the fans and coralline limestones were generated in a setting in which the tectonic uplift rate decreased over the Quaternary to negligible values at present. Coralline limestones formed during eustatic highstands when alluvium was trapped upstream and wadis filled with debris. During lowstands, wadis cut into sedimentary deposits; coupled with continuing uplift, fans were dissected, leaving remnant surfaces, and wadirelated terraces were generated by down cutting. Only landforms from the past three to four eustatic sea level cycles (i.e., ∼300 to 400 kyr) are likely to have survived erosion and deposition associated with fluvial processes.