From radiometry to chronology of a marine sediment core: A Pb dating interlaboratory comparison exercise organised by the IAEA.

Laboratories from 14 countries (with different levels of expertise in radionuclide measurements and Pb dating) participated in an interlaboratory comparison exercise (ILC) related to the application of Pb sediment dating technique within the framework of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project. The laboratories were provided with samples from a composite sediment core and were required to provide massic activities of several radionuclides and an age versus depth model from the obtained results, using the most suitable Pb dating model. Massic concentrations of Zn and Cu were also determined to be used for chronology validation.

Long-term quality record (1996-2018) of coastal sediments at the complex industrial site along the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba.

To evaluate the effect of the industrial activities on the sediment quality, we investigated long-term records of physical and chemical properties of bottom-surface sediments from a complex industrial site along the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. Sediment samples were collected from 10 m depth once a year from six different stations (S1-S6) and analyzed for grain size, loss on ignition (LOI), organic carbon (OC), hydrogen sulfide (HS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and heavy metal contents. Temporal variations show a constant/decreasing trend for HS, OC, and LOI, whereas an increasing trend for TN and TP was observed.

Effects of pollution on the geochemical properties of marine sediments across the fringing reef of Aqaba, Red Sea.

The Gulf of Aqaba is of significant strategic and economic value to all gulf-bordering states, particularly to Jordan, where it provides Jordan with its only marine outlet. The Gulf is subject to a variety of impacts posing imminent ecological risk to its unique marine ecosystem. We attempted to investigate the status of metal pollution in the coastal sediments of the Jordanian Gulf of Aqaba.

Heavy metal contents in growth bands of Porites corals: record of anthropogenic and human developments from the Jordanian Gulf of Aqaba.

In order to assess pollutants and impact of environmental changes in the coastal region of the Jordanian Gulf of Aqaba, concentrations of six metals were traced through variations in 5 years growth bands sections of recent Porties coral skeleton. X-radiography showed annual growth band patterns extending back to the year 1925. Baseline metal concentrations in Porites corals were established using 35 years-long metal record from late Holocene coral (deposited in pristine environment) and coral from reef that is least exposed to pollution in the marine reserve in the Gulf of Aqaba.

Increased seasonality in Middle East temperatures during the last interglacial period.

The last interglacial period (about 125,000 years ago) is thought to have been at least as warm as the present climate. Owing to changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun, it is thought that insolation in the Northern Hemisphere varied more strongly than today on seasonal timescales, which would have led to corresponding changes in the seasonal temperature cycle. Here we present seasonally resolved proxy records using corals from the northernmost Red Sea, which record climate during the last interglacial period, the late Holocene epoch and the present.