Calcium carbonate suspended in Arabian Gulf and Red Sea waters; biogenic and detrital, not "chemogenic"

Abstract

Abstract The warm saline waters of the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea are supersaturated with respect to aragonite and magnesian calcite. Despite the local dominance of these phases in the Arabian Gulf sediment and their general abundance in southern Red Sea sediments, little or no evidence of "chemogenic" carbonate is found in the overlying waters; suspended carbonate grains are either biogenic or detrital. Precipitation of calcium carbonate appears limited to bottom or interstitial waters.