Central Arabia Research Articles

Aridity record of the Arabian Peninsula for the last 200 kyr: Environmental magnetic evidence from the western equatorial Indian ocean

The evolution of aridity and its forcing mechanisms in the Arabian Peninsula are of significance for better understanding the environmental response of the region to global change and the impact of past climate shifts in human evolution. Paleoclimatic reconstructions for the region are predominantly derived from fragmentary terrestrial records. Here, we present a detailed environmental magnetic record for marine sediments from the western equatorial Indian Ocean, which constitute the terminal sink for eolian material originated from the Arabian Peninsula. The dominant magnetic minerals identified in the studied sediments include magnetite, maghemite, and hematite. The hard isothermal remanent magnetization (HIRM), widely used as a proxy for the abundances of the high coercivity mineral hematite, has been used to track variations in the concentration of Arabian dust over the last 200 kyr. Dust concentrations are lowest during interglacial periods of maximum boreal summer isolation, and coincide with intervals during which lake and fluvial systems developed and speleothems formed across most of southern and central Arabia. Our results point to a sharp decrease in the production of dust due to the expansion of vegetation cover up to 30°N during these periods. West African Monsoon appears to be the major source of increased rainfall across Arabia, while the Indian Summer monsoon likely contributed to enhance rainfall in the south and southeastern parts of the peninsula. Variation in the supply of Arabian dust were also driven by changes in high-latitude ice volume and atmospheric CO2, as indicated by highest dust concentration found during glacial periods. We interpret that the expansion of high-latitude ice sheets increased the global meridional temperature gradient, weakened the monsoon system, and resulted in a more southerly, colder and descending subtropical westerly jet, leading to the retreat of vegetation cover and the enhanced production of dust from the Arabian deserts. Our results highlight a link between the production of Arabian dust and orbital-scale climate variability, including both monsoon and northern hemisphere ice sheets dynamics.

The Role Played by the Merchants of al-Qasim in the Coffee Trade across the Arabian Gulf, 1870–1950

Abstract This article traces the coffee bean trade from its spread in central Arabia, focusing particularly on two groups of merchants in al-Qasim. The first group includes those who migrated and settled in countries of the Arabian Gulf, Iraq, India, or elsewhere and engaged in the trade in food, including in coffee. They amassed wealth and established large trading networks in the Hijaz, the Gulf coasts, Iraq, and India. The second group comprises traders who traveled from al-Qasim to the ports of the Arabian Gulf to purchase foodstuffs and export them to al-Qasim and other regions of central Arabia. The article emphasizes the strong relationships among these traders, how they were linked by the coffee trade, and how this trade also symbolized the connection between Najd and the wider world, contributing to its integration into the global economy.

In search for a Bronze Age in Central Arabia : a view from Landsat imagery

In search for a Bronze Age in Central Arabia : a view from Landsat imagery

The fate of the Najdi manuscripts after the fall of al-Dirʿiyya

Abstract This paper seeks to shed light on the copying of manuscripts in Najd in central Arabia during the period prior to the fall of al-Dirʿiyya in 1818 and the fate of those manuscripts after that momentous event. It begins by a consideration of the movement of copying manuscripts in Najd during the era of the First Saudi State in the 18th century, including the reasons for which manuscripts were copied, the types of manuscripts copied, and the sources of those manuscripts. Attention is then given to the effect the fall of al-Dirʿiyya had on intellectual life in Najd, including the destruction of the existing book repositories and the transfer of many manuscript copies outside the borders of Najd, or their total loss or destruction. This paper will attempt to offer answers regarding the fate of those manuscripts, by following the progress of several of them and determining what happened to them. This will be done by consulting the relevant sources, particularly the available archival records, as well as following up on those that are to be found within Saudi Arabia itself or beyond its borders. The article includes a list of Najdi manuscripts preserved worldwide.

Agriculture in al-Yamāma during the Abbasid Period*

Abstract Agriculture is a sine qua non for human societies as it provides the food that people need to live. This article will examine the state of agriculture in the region of al-Yamāma in central Arabia during the Abbasid period. It begins with a consideration of the factors affecting agriculture, including some that are uniquely important in the central Arabian context. Attention then turns to a discussion of land holdings and land grants, methods of irrigation, the different types of agriculture, and the crops cultivated. Dates are seen to be the most important agricultural commodity, followed closely by grains. Much less information is available regarding fruits and vegetables. The article relies solely on primary Arabic sources.

Groundwater‐Controlled Deposition of Equatorial Layered Deposits in Central Arabia Terra, Mars

AbstractEquatorial Layered Deposits (ELDs) reveal aspects of past depositional environments useful for timing climatic and geological events on Mars. However, their formation has several contending hypotheses which reflect a diverse range of possible environments. To better constrain their formation mechanism, we analyzed the stratigraphic and mineralogical characteristics and mapped the distribution of ELDs within three close craters, Sera, Jiji, and an unnamed crater in central Arabia Terra. Analyses of craters' geology allowed us to reconstruct the paleo‐environments where ELDs have been deposited. Thinning and thickening sequence trends show shared and repeated variations in the depositional environment, reflecting sediment accumulation strongly controlled by a regional groundwater reservoir. Layered deposits are characterized by monohydrated and polyhydrated sulfate signatures implying an interaction between water and rock in acidic conditions. Our study contributes to the understanding of regional geological processes in Arabia Terra revealing long‐term aqueous activity.

Petrogenesis and Tectonic Implications of the Jabal Hadb Ad Dayheen Granitic Complex, Central Arabian Shield

Petrogenesis and Tectonic Implications of the Jabal Hadb Ad Dayheen Granitic Complex, Central Arabian Shield

Globalization and Development Trajectories of Bedrock of Islam: The Success Story of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom has come a long way in terms of development. The Saudi nation first appeared in Central Arabia in 1727. Thereafter, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s vast history, Vision 2030 and general development shows that the county has gained international recognition. Thanks to the embraced globalization and development trajectories of the Islamic religion that shaped the country to its many success stories. These can be emulated, adopted and replicated in other countries to turn around the economy in general. This study was founded on a paradigm shift theoretical framework. Using a qualitative content analysis of various sources of information including key informant interviews, the data was thematically analyzed and presented through narrative and verbatim. The findings show that Saudi Arabia has numerous success stories in different areas including economy, education, health, infrastructure and foreign aid. These can be guidelines to other third world countries including Kenya to put growth on the similar trajectory. The article recommends that the governments of struggling economies make use of the embarked international relations by Saudi Arabia to partner in development projects.

William Facey, (in collaboration with Michael C. A. Macdonald). Charles Huber: France’s Greatest Arabian Explorer. With a Translation of Huber’s First Journey in Central Arabia, 1880–1881

William Facey, (in collaboration with Michael C. A. Macdonald). Charles Huber: France’s Greatest Arabian Explorer. With a Translation of Huber’s First Journey in Central Arabia, 1880–1881

From Dilmun to Wādī al‐Fāw: A forgotten desert corridor, c. 2000 BC

AbstractThere is a lacuna of knowledge on the inland trade routes across Bronze Age central Arabia, which this article seeks to fill based on new evidence from Wādī al‐Fāw, Saudi Arabia. Contrary to a common belief that interior Southeast Arabia after the Holocene Humid Phase and until the domestication of the dromedary had turned desolate Badlands, this study offers documentation that during the early Bronze Age, a commercial corridor connected the Kingdom of Dilmun on the Arabian Gulf coast with the southern parts of Saudi Arabia, probably Yemen. Seals of Dilmun Type, Dilmun pottery and related burial praxis make up the gist of the evidence from Wādī al‐Fāw. A dry mummification mound burial custom is possibly identified at al‐Fāw and probably Taymāʾ, which contrasts the classic Dilmun mound burial custom. An attempt is made to reconstruct the most likely route that connected Dilmun and Wādī al‐Fāw. The emergence around 2000 BC of this trade network, likely based on donkey trains, closely coincides with the rise of the Kingdom of Dilmun, but surprisingly also with a time when Arabia witnessed unusually arid conditions. Identification of this unexpected ancient corridor should profoundly affect how upcoming models consider linguistic, ideological, genetic, cultural and technological transmission across Bronze Age Arabia.

Wastelanding Arabia: America's ‘Garden of Eden’ in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia

In the late 1930s, the American oil company Aramco helped Saudi Arabia's King Ibn Saud develop his royal farm outside Riyadh. On the king's request, Aramco introduced new technology to tap the Al Kharj region's rich aquifer water and establish vast fields of wheat, alfalfa, and other water-intensive crops. Saudi Arabia's aquifers have since been pumped dry in service of the ‘Garden of Eden’ idyll promised by American advocates, who boasted of their ability to reclaim thousands of acres of ‘desert wasteland.’ This article draws on Traci Voyles' formulation of ‘wastelanding’ to interrogate the agricultural spectacle of Al Kharj in the 1930s–50s. The project was an early exemplar what came to be an established pattern of wastelanding Arabia, built on the unsustainable use of groundwater and social inequalities to create an ‘Eden’ in the desert. Agricultural wastelanding has unique spatial and temporal dimensions that set it apart from other extractive industries, like the uranium mining that Voyles examines in Diné lands. But as this article shows, desert greening projects draw on and produce similar structures of social and environmental violence – with America's ‘Garden of Eden’ in central Arabia being just one case among many of wastelanding across space and time.

Red Sea tectonics unveil one of the largest terrestrial ice streams: New constraints on Late Ordovician ice sheet dynamics

Mega-streamlined landforms on Earth and Mars have been attributed to aeolian, glaciogenic, fluvial, and tectonic processes. Identifying the forces that shaped these landforms is paramount for understanding landscape evolution and constraining paleo-climate models and ice sheet reconstructions. In Arabia, east-northeast trending, kilometer-scale streamlined landforms were interpreted to have been formed by Quaternary aeolian erosion. We provide field and satellite-based evidence for a Late Ordovician glacial origin for these streamlined landforms, which were exhumed during Red Sea–related uplift. Then we use Late Ordovician paleo-topographic data to reconstruct the Late Ordovician ice sheet using identified and previously reported glacial deposits and landforms. Our reconstruction suggests these glacial features are part of a major, topographically controlled, marine-terminating ice stream, with a minimum length of 1000 km extending from the southeast Egypt to northern and central Arabia and possibly more than twice this length if the glaciomarine and iceberg deposits in the present-day western Iran are part of this system. Our results support models that advocate for a single, major, and highly dynamic ice sheet and provide new morphological-based constraints for Late Ordovician climate models.

Russian Diplomacy in Hijaz and Najd in the Late 19th — Early 20th Century According to Russian Diplomatic and Military Intelligence Sources

This article aims to shed light on activities launched by Russian diplomats and military intelligence officers in the late 19th — early 20th centuries seeking to better ascertain the situation in the two regions of the Arabian Peninsula that were once incorporated into the Ottoman Empire — Hijaz (Western Arabia) and Najd (Central Arabia). It also tackles the highly entangled, and at times extremely tense relations between Turkish authorities and Arabs who lived in these two regions. A body of little-known documents stored in the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AFPRE) and Russian State Military-Historical Archive (RSMHA), as well as foreign archives, form the backbone of this article. The author demonstrates that within the period under review both Bedouin tribes and the urban notables more than once rebelled against the Ottoman stranglehold and each time were suppressed by military force. Turkish-Arab relations, especially in view of Ottoman military expeditions into the Arabian regions, drew the intense interest of Russian diplomacy and military intelligence, the latter especially given the likelihood of armed conflict between Russia and the Ottomans was high. This meant that diplomats in the Russian Consulate in Jeddah, who were entrusted with the task of gaining knowledge on how Ottoman authorities leveraged Muslim pilgrimage to influence Russian Muslims who had arrived in Hijaz, recognized that their lives and health were in danger. Russian diplomats were painfully aware that the policies pursued by the UK in those regions were a means to destabilize the situation, especially in light of the smuggling of arms destined for local tribes occurring under the noses of the Ottomans.

Stratigraphic setting, facies types, and mineral paragenesis of the carbonate-bearing succession of Jabal Farasan Area, West Central Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

Stratigraphic setting, facies types, and mineral paragenesis of the carbonate-bearing succession of Jabal Farasan Area, West Central Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

Quartz Crystallinity Index of Arabian Sands and Sandstones

AbstractAlthough quartz crystallinity index (QCI) was developed more than four decades ago, it remains a relatively new tool used in provenance studies. This study examines QCI values of Arabian sands (Quaternary sands from Nafud, Dahna, and AlRub'AlKhali deserts), and Arabian sandstones (Paleozoic and Mesozoic sandstones from northern and central Arabia). QCI values of sandstones range from 8.2 to 9.8. For Quaternary occurrences, QCI values of Nafud sands range from 7.4 to 9.5, Dahna sands range from 7.9 to 9.4, and AlRub'AlKhali sands range from 8.8 to 9.4. The data confirm that Arabian sands are derived mainly from early Paleozoic sandstones, with subordinate contributions from late Paleozoic and Mesozoic sandstones. They also highlight the role that sediment homogenization plays in narrowing QCI values of AlRub'AlKhali sands. Highest and lowest QCI values raise questions about the role of chert in controlling of QCI values of Arabian sands and sandstones. Arabian sandstones of Late Ordovician, Late Devonian, Late Permian, Late Triassic, and Cretaceous age possess the highest QCI values (>9.5). These time intervals coincide with lower abundances of siliceous sponges, and therefore fewer potential sources of chertification/silicification. Cambrian sandstones and Quaternary sands possess the lowest QCI values (<8.5). This coincides with the fact that both are of eolian origin, environments, which usually contain large quantities of quartz‐rich dust that are documented to be a primary source of silica for chert formation. Therefore, we propose that the presence of chert is responsible for the extreme values of QCI in Arabian sands and sandstones.

Characterization of ultraviolet radiation (UVA) in the desert climate of the Central Arabian Peninsula

Characterization of ultraviolet radiation (UVA) in the desert climate of the Central Arabian Peninsula

Characteristics and renewal of zooplankton communities under extreme environmental stresses in the oligotrophic hypersaline Arabian Gulf

Impacts of the exceptionally high temperature and salinity on species composition, abundance, biomass and diversity of zooplankton communities were examined in the central Arabian (Persian) Gulf in late winter and summer of 2010 and 2011. Remarkably diverse zooplankton assemblages were characterized with small calanoids (Paracalanus aculeatus and Temora longicornis), cyclopoids (Oithona nana, Oithona plumifera, Corycaeus flaccus and Corycaeus lautus) and harpacticoids (Euterpina acutifrons) with relatively low abundance and biomass. Overall, the low biomass and abundance were not significantly associated with phytoplankton, whereas zooplankton faunal similarities were significantly correlated with water properties measured as environmental distances across sampling sites. Spatially, the lowest abundance, biomass and diversity occurred in extremely saline nearshore waters off the western Qatar peninsula, whereas the highest abundance, biomass and diversity consistently appeared at northeast offshore locations that periodically encounter nutrient and species-rich but low-salinity water entering the Arabian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. Numerically, the relative dominance of calanoids along with lower salinity and high chlorophyll-a concentration in the northeast Arabian Gulf implies that zooplankton populations are likely replenished by the seasonal (summer) transport of species from the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, which may explain partly the high variations of species richness and zooplankton abundance previously reported in the region. Given increasing evidence of climate-change induced responses of zooplankton, our findings suggest that in the semi-closed Arabian Gulf resident populations stressed by the harsh environment are likely to continue to be sustained only by invading water masses during the summer.

Asymmetrical wave-dominated siliciclastic shorelines with evidence of along-strike variability of sedimentary processes: A revised interpretation for the Toarcian Marrat red beds, central Arabia

Marine siliciclastic red beds are common in the geological record; however, distinguishing them from continental red beds can be challenging without detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic analyses. Owing to the common tendency in the geological literature to relate the reddish color to the oxidization processes within the vadose zone, siliciclastic red beds of marine genesis can be misinterpreted as continental deposits. Unlike the other Toarcian successions in the Tethyan basins surrounding Arabia, the sedimentological and stratigraphic characteristics of the Marrat Formation of Arabia in general and its middle unit's red siliciclastic beds, in particular, have not been well constrained. For more than 50 years, the red siliciclastic beds of the Toarcian Marrat Formation have been interpreted as continental to marginal marine deposits based on their reddish color and the absence of fossils. The lack of supporting sedimentological and stratigraphic evidence to this interpretation raises critical concerns regarding its validity.Along the Jurassic outcrop belt in central Arabia, three outcrop localities of the middle Marrat reddish siliciclastic deposits (with a total thickness of more than 120 m) demonstrate sedimentological and ichnological features that are contrary to the non-marine to marginal marine interpretation. The integration between sedimentology and ichnology reveals the existence of asymmetrical wave-dominated shorelines with evidence of river hyperpycnal flows and tidal processes during the middle Marrat time. A total of seventeen facies are identified and grouped into four facies associations: mixed wave and river-dominated delta front to prodelta mudstone (FA1), shoreface (strandplain) and underlying shelf mudstone (FA2), tidally-influenced distributary channel (FA3), and offshore carbonates (FA4). Stratigraphically, six major parasequences (each with a thickness of ~ 3–13 m) were mapped and correlated between the three measured sections with clear overall progradational to retrogradational stacking patterns.To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to document the presence of Toarcian shallow-marine siliciclastic red beds on the Arabian Plate. It displays an example of a case study where ichnology and process-based sedimentology were integrated to constrain the depositional environment of these red beds. This study provides new insights into the depositional settings of the Toarcian red siliciclastic beds of the Marrat Formation, with implications to the stratigraphy of Arabia and the Early Jurassic paleogeography of the western Tethys and, in particular, the Arabian Plate.

Turkish-Arab Confrontation in the Hijaz and Nejd and Russia in Early 20th Century (According to Russian Diplomatic and Military Intelligence Sources)

Through the lens of its analysis, the article reveals the most entangled relationships, reaching the highest degree of tension at times, between the Turkish authorities and the Arab people inhabiting two regions of the Arabian Peninsula, incorporated into the Ottoman Empire – the Hejaz (West Arabia) and Najd (Central Arabia) – in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. It also sheds light on the activities undertaken by the Russian diplomats and military intelligence officers seeking to establish more details about the situation in those regions. The article is primarily based on a body of little-known documents stored in the records of the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire and Russian State Military-Historical Archive, as well as some archives outside Russia. It is shown that within the period in question, both the Bedouin tribes and the urban notables rose in rebellions against the Turkish stranglehold, that were suppressed with military force. The Turkish-Arab relationships, especially the Turkish military expeditions into the Arabian regions, were the focus of intense interest of the Russian diplomacy, as well as military intelligence, given the possibility of an armed conflict between Russia and Turkey. Staff members of the Russian consulate in Jeddah, founded in 1890, who were entrusted with the task of gaining knowledge on the use of pilgrimage by the Turkish authorities to influence the Russian Muslims who arrived in the Hejaz, were exposed to dangers that threatened their lives and health. They assessed the British policy in these areas as aimed at destabilizing the situation, given the smuggling of arms destined for the local tribes. The author also looks at the way how the difference in visions and preferences among the high-ranking Russian officials, in charge of various departments within the Russian Empire, impacted the Russian policies in the area.

Long-Term Visibility Trends in the Riyadh Megacity, Central Arabian Peninsula and Their Possible Link to Solar Activity

In this study, atmospheric visibility (AV) data from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (24.91˚N, 46.41˚E, 760 m), for the period 1976-2011 were utilized to investigate the interannual, monthly, and seasonal AV variations and trends. The magnitudes of these trends were characterized and tested using mann-kendall (MK) rank statistics at different significance levels. No significant trend in AV was observed during the 36-year period. However, a significant increase in the annual mean AV by 0.24 km per year for the period between 1976 and 1999 was found. For the period 1999-2011, AV decreased significantly by 0.16 km per year. The potential effects of air temperature and relative humidity on AV were investigated. While these two variables could explain the observed trend of AV over some periods, they failed to do so for the whole study period. To search for extraterrestrial causes for long-term AV variations, correlation analyses between the time series of cosmic ray (CR) data (measured by NM and muon detector) and solar activity (represented by sunspot number) and AV were conducted and showed that these two variables are able to explain the AV variations for the whole study period. Additionally, power spectra analyses were conducted to investigate periodicities in the AV time series. Several significant periodicities, such as 9.8, 5.2, 2.2, 1.7, and 1.3 years were recognized. The obtained periodicities were similar to those reported by several investigators and found in solar, interplanetary, and CR parameters. The spectral and correlation results suggested that, with the expected effects of terrestrial and meteorological conditions on AV, long-term AV variations can also be related to the solar activity and associated CR modulations.