The reconstruction of ancient marine environments is an important task of the Earth Sciences, of great interest to geology, pure and applied, to oceanography and climatology, as well as to such fields as ecology and evolution. In principle, such reconstructions are based on the actualistic approach of "the present is the key to the past." Since the deciphering of past environmental changes, either nat ural or man-made, has considerable bearing on planning, the past may provide a key to the future. Paleoenvironmental interpretations in the marine realm are based to a great extent on assemblages of fossils recovered from ancient sediments in outcrops and from land-based or submarine drillings. Observable lateral sequences of assemblages in contemporaneous strata, the known or assumed functional or adaptive significance of preserved skeletal struc tures, as well as their evolution through time and space, provide by themselves indications of ancient environmental settings. In some cases even present-day eco logical considerations may be derived from analysis of fossils.

Inhalt
A. Introduction.- A.1 Background and History of Research.- A.2 List of Participants and Their Contributions.- A. 3 Purpose of the Book.- B. Synopsis.- C. The Gulf of Aqaba a Rift-Shaped Depression.- D. A Desert-Enclosed Sea.- D.1 Climate.- D.2 Hydrography.- D.3 Circulation Pattern.- D.4 Seasonality.- D.5 Nutrients.- D.6 Primary Production.- D.7 Composition of Plankton.- D.8 Light.- D.9 Characteristics of Water Masses.- E. Shell Producers in the Water Column.- E.1 Calcareous Plankton.- E.2 Coccolithophorida.- E.3 Foraminiferida.- E.4 Pteropoda.- E.5 Aqaba Calcareous Plankton: Significance and Problems.- F. The Sea Bottom a Mosaic of Substrates.- F.1 Methods of Investigation.- F.2 Selected Areas.- F.3 Significance of the Depth Gradient.- F.4 Significance of Substrates.- F.5 Seasonality.- G. Benthic Foraminifera: Response to Environment.- G.1 Larger Foraminiferans.- G.2 Smaller Benthic Foraminifera.- G.3 Significance of Shell Morphogenesis.- G.4 Significance of Symbiosis.- G.5 Stable Isotopes and Related Problems.- G.6 Thanatocoenoses.- H. 150,000 Years Gulf of Aqaba.- H.1 Deep Sea Cores.- H.2 Microfossil Assemblages from Cores.- H.3 Stratigraphy.- H.4 Paleoenvironments.- H.5 Paleoceanographic History.- References.- Taxonomic Index.