VARVE STRATIGRAPHY IN A CORE FROM GULF OF ADEN

A core sequence from the Gulf of Aden is described. A yearly fluctuation in the supply of aeolian matter causes microstratification with an average thickness of 1 mm per microvarve. The varve stratigraphy arrived at is connected to the 14C-time scale. It is shown that there is a reverse correlation between the content of aeolian matter and the phosphate content. The phosphate curve could thus mirror the amount of precipitation in adjacent arid lands during the Late Pleistocene and the reverse trend in the curve is a measure of the aeolian ablation. The increase in the carbon content up from the base of the core is interpreted as due to an increased outflow of organic matter from the Red Sea during the Flandrian transgression (= main Postglacial eustatic rise of sea level). © 1969.