The Aqaba Adventure

Aqaba is Jordan's only coastal city. Until recent decades, it was a sleepy coastal town, but the rapid development of industry and tourism in Jordan has necessitated a large port city, and its reefs and proximity to important archaeological sites like Petra make it a sought-after destination for tourists. As a result, Aqaba has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the region.

Aqaba hosts the world's sixth-tallest flagpole (according to Wikipedia). It is indeed huge and easily visible across the Gulf.

Aqaba is also an important center for marine research. The studies on the giant clams which inspired my initial idea to come to the Red Sea were largely conducted on the short 16-mile strip of Jordanian coastline. Along this coast, impressively large modern reefs host the three species of Tridacna described from the Red Sea.

Two lionfish

During my time in Jordan, I stayed at the Marine Science Station (MSS) just south of Aqaba. MSS is a government-administered institution hosting marine researchers from the University of Jordan and Yarmouk University, and also hosts a marine reserve and aquarium.

Black-tip reef shark

Directly inland from the coast, fossil reef terraces representing ancient reefs are have been exposed by tectonic uplift. These terraces resemble steps descending into the ocean. The oldest are over 120,000 years old, predating Homo sapiens' expansion into the region. Comparison of the fossil and modern bivalves will allow us to determine their change in growth rate through time.

View from the top of one terrace. The coastal road lies atop another terrace, around 6-10 feet below, and the modern reef is submerged below that. Someday it will be a terrace as well.

My work in Jordan consisted of two parts: collecting modern and ancient shells of giant clams for growth band counting and isotopic testing back in the states, and diving to nonlethally sample hemolymph (body fluid) from living clams. The modern diving went off without a hitch. The clams were largely unaffected by the sampling, reopening their shells to expose their mantles and filter-feed shortly after being sampled.

Collecting modern shells was also easy. The beach is covered in valves of recently dead Tridacna of various sizes. I gathered specimens of all three species and cut small slices of shells to take back with me to America. I even found some likely fossil specimens embedded in rock directly on the beach!

Where it got more complicated was when I sampled fossils from one of the uplifted reef terraces. I was dropped off and went to work chipping fossils out of the reef. About 45 minutes later, two police officers drove up and asked what I was doing. Unfortunately, we suffered from a complete language barrier. It would be hard enough to explain the purpose of my research in English, and so despite their best efforts to communicate via Google Translate on our phones, they took me to the Aqaba police station.

I waited in the break room and they called in my collaborator, MSS Director Tariq Al-Najjar, who came in and explained in Arabic what was going on. Apparently, someone had called in worried I was prospecting for gold! Even in the States, this is an issue for fossil hunters. Everyone in the police station including the chief learned a bit about the fossil reefs and Tridacna that day.

We waited for an English-speaking member of the city's dedicated tourism police to arrive (it was Saturday morning and his day off). He had a master's degree in archaeology and was very familiar with the principles of scientific excavation. After taking my statement in English, we were free to leave.

Throughout the experience, I was pleasantly surprised at the politeness and professionalism of the Aqaba police, in contrast to my limited but negative experience with the demeanor of police in the United States. They were extremely professional and dedicated themselves to figuring out how to confirm that this strange bearded American visitor in shorts and a broad-brimmed hat was not there to steal Jordan's minerals, but actually there to research their coastal environment and collaborate with Jordanian researchers. When they asked me if I had any complaints, I assured them that I had nothing but praise for their professional conduct!

Though the morning was gone and the heat was now becoming oppressive, my collaborator Tariq took me back to resume where I left off, and I found a few more specimens along the fossil reef terrace. My fieldwork turned out to be a great success, despite my extremely unusual morning.

I am very grateful for the hospitality of everyone I met in Jordan, and am still in awe of the incredible natural and cultural beauty of the country. I will definitely be back, and maybe take a course in Arabic in the meantime!

Our group with Tariq!