Page 203 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

-179-

than present sea levels easily account for such periods of marsh growth in the
southern Mesopotamian lowlands, although this cannot be seen as the only
alternative, given al-AsfourTs evidence for recent tectonic activity in Kuwait. A
correspondence between third-millennium B.C. marsh growth and the dated beach
features at the 2-3 meter level support a contemporary higher sea level stand in
the gulf. TTie subsequent two intervals of marsh growth temporally coincide with
the anomalous lack of Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian pottery from the portions
of the Qala’at al-Bahrain archeological sequence and with seemingly out of place
marine-shell deposits dated by both al-Asfour and Felber et al. Such suggestions
point to the lack of stratigraphic and geomorphic control for documenting
Holocene sea level changes along the Arabian coast, and the complexity of the
region.
Many problems remain for Holocene sea level studies in the Arabian Gulf.
One of these is a potential for recent tectonic activity in the area, while another is
a lack of agreement in the interpretation of Holocene sea levels. This became
apparent when Fairbridge (1961) presented a worldwide synthesis of data pointing to
a fluctuating sea level over the past 6000 years. TTiese have been discussed more
recently in Fairbridge (1976). In this scheme, a near modern sea level was attained
about 6000 years ago, followed by several fluctuations, above and below the
present. Uncritical use of Fairbridge’s curve in the gulf has been presented by
Kassler (1973), Nutzel (1975) and most recently by al-Asfour (1978).
Disregarding geological research which has been chiefly concerned with
the general trend of the Flandrian transgression (Shepard 1963, Coleman and Smith
1964), there seems to have been a variety of sea level fluctuations during the
Holocene. TTie problem, however, has been one of the correlation and dating. In
other areas, for example, the northeast coast of the United States, no evidence for
high sea level stands has been noted. Rather, this is a subsiding coast where the
Early and Middle Holocene record is present below modern sea level. In the
Mediterranean area, a detailed study by Flemming (1969) points to a lack of
evidence for higher than present sea levels over the past 2000 years.