- CENIEH, Luminescence Dating Laboratory, Department MemberUniversity of Haifa, Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies -Hatter Laboratory, Adjunctadd
- Luminescence applications, Luminescence (OSL), OSL dating, Tsunami Research, Marine Geology, Coastal Dunes, and 49 moreCoastal geomorphology (Earth Sciences), GeoArcheology, Eolian sedimentation, Coastal Geomorphology, Sea Level Changes, Quaternary Geology, Stratigraphy, Geochronology, Sedimentology, Geomorphology, Mineralogy, Geology, Paleotempestology, Luminescence Dating, Paleolimnology, Optical Dating, Coastal processes (Earth Sciences), Coastal Morphodynamics, Coastal Hazards, Tsunami, Coastal Erosion, Tsunamis, Physical Oceanography, Environmental Sustainability, Limnogeology, Micropaleontology, Tsunamis in Coastal Lakes, Paleoenvironmental Change, Geochronology & isotope Geology, Environmental Planning, Ancient History, Land-use planning, Paleotempostology and Paleo Tsunamis, Tsunamigenic deposit, Cartography, Limnology, Radiocarbon Dating (Earth Sciences), Physics, Sustainable Development, Geoarchaeology, Coastal Processes, Tectonics & Sedimentation, Sea level Research, Coastal Sedimentology, Palaeohazards, Marine Geosciences, Paleoseismology, Petrophysics, and Ceramic Taphonomyedit
- I am an "old-school" geologist with a strong background in sedimentology, surface processes, mineralogy and geochrono... moreI am an "old-school" geologist with a strong background in sedimentology, surface processes, mineralogy and geochronology. I have extensive field and research experience and have been involved in several projects in Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, Brasil, West Coast of Canada, Gulf Coast USA, Spain, Portugal, W Mediterranean and E Africa. My major research interests are framed within the coastal and marine geology realms, but also lacustrine and cordilleran environments. My research is focused towards reconstructing palaeoenvironmental histories and coastal evolution with applications to sea level changes, understanding geologic and sedimentary processes, and deciphering event chronologies. I am particularly interested in developing new sedimentological and luminescence proxies and petrophysics to be used as novel applications in palaeoseismology, tsunami research, event stratigraphy, and sediment transport. I am also very interested in coastal morphodynamics, source-to-sink processes, provenance studies and geoarchaeology. My most recent proxy hypothesis is currently being extended onto other major known tsunami deposits around the World, modern and ancient, along the coasts of Western USA and Canada, Mexico, Chile, Japan, Israel, Greece, Norway and Kenya.I am currently working on the Mediterranean coast of Israel in sedimentological, mineralogical and geochronological aspects, not only to answer questions related to geological processes (e.g. tectonism and shallow shelf sedimentation and hydrodynamics) but also geoarchaeology and coastal plain evolution.edit
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Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology, Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, and 15 moreGeoarchaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Levantine Archaeology, Coastal Geomorphology, Israel, Bronze Age, Paleogeography, Harbour Archaeology, Bronze, History and archaeology, Coastal Changes, Akko, tel Akko, and maririme heritage
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At the ancient site of Akko/Acre, positioned on the northern side of the Haifa Bay, habitation patterns and anchorage locations changed over time. Causes for this are attributed to ecological and geomorphological fluctuations as well as... more
At the ancient site of Akko/Acre, positioned on the northern side of the Haifa Bay, habitation patterns and anchorage locations changed over time. Causes for this are attributed to ecological and geomorphological fluctuations as well as the impact of human processes. The area is influenced by the silt deposited by the River Na’aman, and coastal sedimentation controlled by littoral currents. Akko/Acre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the area. This article reviews a variety of attempts using ground penetrating radar, electric resistivity tomography, coring, and limited archaeological excavations, to reveal the changing locations of anchorages and harbours, and link these to variations in habitation patterns.
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Research Interests: Phoenician and Persian
Research Interests: Geography, Archaeology, Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, and 14 moreGeoarchaeology, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Landscape Archaeology, Levantine Archaeology, Coastal Geomorphology, Mediterranean, Phoenician, Quaternary, Ostracods, Coastal Changes, Iron Age Levant, Ancient harbours and anchorages, Ancient Ports and Harbours, and tel Akko
Research Interests: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geoarchaeology, Marine Geology, Coastal Geomorphology, and 10 moreQuaternary Geology, Quaternary palaeontology, Quaternary Sedimentology and Geomorphology, Quaternary geochronology, Holocene, Geomorfologia, Geoarchaeology and Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions, Património geomorfológico, Estuary, and GEOMORFOLOGY
Research Interests: Archaeology, Geology, Palaeoenvironment, Coastal Geomorphology, Quaternary Geology, and 12 moreCoastal and Island Archaeology, Archaeology of Roman Hispania, Palaeontology, Arqueología, Quaternary Sedimentology and Geomorphology, Holocene, Roman fishing and fish processing, Hispania romana, Paleontología, Roman Archaeology, Sedimentary Facies, and Iberian Geology
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Research Interests: Geology, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Disaster risk management, Central America and Mexico, and 13 moreRisk Management, OSL dating, Tsunami, Benthic foraminifera, Disaster risk reduction, Magnetic Susceptibility, Tropical Eastern Pacific, Storm, Grain size, Multiproxy analyses, Numerical Model, Pacific Coast, and High energy
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Underwater geoarchaeological excavations on the shallow shelf (?10 m depth) have documented a tsunami that struck and damaged the ancient harbor at Caesarea, Israel on December 13, 115 AD The tsunami was recorded in the Talmud and was... more
Underwater geoarchaeological excavations on the shallow shelf (?10 m depth) have documented a tsunami that struck and damaged the ancient harbor at Caesarea, Israel on December 13, 115 AD The tsunami was recorded in the Talmud and was likely triggered by an ...
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Research Interests: Geology and Geomorphology
Rapid assessment of luminescence signals of poly-mineral samples by a pulsed-photon portable OSL reader (PPSL) is useful for interpreting sedimentary sections during fieldwork, and can assist with targeted field sampling for later full... more
Rapid assessment of luminescence signals of poly-mineral samples by a pulsed-photon portable OSL reader (PPSL) is useful for interpreting sedimentary sections during fieldwork, and can assist with targeted field sampling for later full OSL dating and prioritize laboratory work. This study investigates PPSL signal intensities in order to assess its usefulness in obtaining relative OSL ages from linear regressions created by interpolating newly generated PPSL values of samples with existing OSL ages from two extensive Nilotic-sourced dunefields.
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Seismic hazard assessment and geochronology are closely linked disciplines. The quantity and quality of the geochronological data used for fault-source characterization is crucial in seismic hazard estimates, which may have significant... more
Seismic hazard assessment and geochronology are closely linked disciplines. The quantity and quality of the geochronological data used for fault-source characterization is crucial in seismic hazard estimates, which may have significant socio-economic implications. The characterization of Quaternary faults in the central sector of the Iberian Chain (NE Spain) has traditionally been based on ages provided by a now closed commercial luminescence laboratory. In this work, we compare new geochronological data obtained by a multi-method dating approach from pediment and terraces (Electron Spin Resonance: ESR, Optically Stimulated Luminescence: OSL; U-series: U/Th) and short-transport colluvial facies (radiocarbon), with ages provided by the commercial luminescence lab from the same units. The thirteen new numerical ages from terraces and pediments associated with Quaternary faults are systematically 6–3 times older than the previous ones, strongly suggesting that they lead to significant ...
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When dealing with fine-grained, organic-rich, colour-monotone, underwater marine sediment cores retrieved from the continental shelf or slope, the initial visual impression, upon split-opening the vessels, is often of a... more
When dealing with fine-grained, organic-rich, colour-monotone, underwater marine sediment cores retrieved from the continental shelf or slope, the initial visual impression, upon split-opening the vessels, is often of a "disappointing" homogeneous, monotonous, continuous archive. Only after thorough, microto macro-scale, multi-parameter investigations the sediment reveals its treasures, initially by performing some measurements on the intact core itself, hence depicting for the first time its contents, and subsequently by carrying out the destructive, multi-proxy sample-based analyses.
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During the Holocene, numerous great earthquakes have occurred along the west coast of North America. Enormous seismic waves, triggered by these colossal forces of nature, have episodically inundated vulnerable regions of the Cascadia... more
During the Holocene, numerous great earthquakes have occurred along the west coast of North America. Enormous seismic waves, triggered by these colossal forces of nature, have episodically inundated vulnerable regions of the Cascadia coastal lands to elevations of up to 20 m above mean sea level. The destructive paths of tsunamis leave behind important geological evidence like anomalous sheets of gravel and sand containing marine fossils and terrestrial detritus marking a distinct disturbance in the depositional environment. Such tsunamigenic deposits can be found in low-elevation lakes; depositional environments which allow one to determine the distribution and inland range of the tsunami wave run-up but also ideal environments because they tend to preserve a longer and older sedimentological record. Multiple inferred tsunami deposits were recorded in Kakawis Lake, on the west central coast of Vancouver Island, and have provided a 14,000-year-old record of information. The tsunamig...
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... Samples were split to obtain specimen counts of approximately 300 and the data plotted as relative percent (Fig. 8 and Fig. 9; Patterson and Fishbein, 1989). Thecamoebians were identified to the strain level using (Reinhardt et al.,... more
... Samples were split to obtain specimen counts of approximately 300 and the data plotted as relative percent (Fig. 8 and Fig. 9; Patterson and Fishbein, 1989). Thecamoebians were identified to the strain level using (Reinhardt et al., 1998) and (Kumar and Dalby, 1998). ...
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Previous geoarchaeological research on the Akko coastal plain have contributed to the understanding of the ancient coastal interface and added evidence as to the location/shift of the ancient anchorages dating from the Middle Bronze Age... more
Previous geoarchaeological research on the Akko coastal plain have contributed to the understanding of the ancient coastal interface and added evidence as to the location/shift of the ancient anchorages dating from the Middle Bronze Age (beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC) to the Early Hellenistic period (mid of the 2nd century BC) of the ancient site of Tel Akko. The present research provides new insights into the environmental changes and likely anchorage sites along the western edge of Tel Akko in the 1st Millennium BC (Iron Age II and III, periods associated with the Phoenician mariners and Persian army incursion). Our approach for locating the anchorage is based on a detailed investigation of subsurface sediments combining sedimentological and faunal analysis and radiocarbon dating of cores as well as identification of ceramic sherds found in the cores, and ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys. Paleoenvironmental changes are compared and contrasted with the results of the archaeological investigations on the tell and in its vicinity. Our new data demonstrates that the Phoenician/Persian maritime interface of Tel Akko was mainly oriented toward the southwestern area of the tell where a natural anchorage was likely to have been located. At that time, the water depth in this area was ca. 2m, allowing for the anchorage of seagoing vessels. Increasing sediment deposition lead to the deterioration of direct, and eventual loss of access, to the sea. These conditions initiated the abandonment of the tell in the Early Hellenistic period as well as the westward shift to habitation on the peninsula, now the 'Old city of Akko', the Crusaders' Saint Jean d'Acre.
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Fuente Mudarra is on a gentle slope on the left bank of the Pico River, near Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. A 12−m2 test pit was dug at this large open-air site between 2012 and 2017. Several upper Pleistocene archaeological levels... more
Fuente Mudarra is on a gentle slope on the left bank of the Pico River, near Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. A 12−m2 test pit was dug at this large open-air site between 2012 and 2017. Several upper Pleistocene archaeological levels were documented. Results from Fuente Mudarra confirm that Neanderthal groups, little represented at cave sites, occupied Sierra de Atapuerca from the end of the middle Pleistocene and during the upper Pleistocene. The site also provides insight into Neanderthal spatial organization in the Atapuerca area and whether they used the caves in an occasional, non-habitual way like the open-air sites.
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Research Interests: Geology and Geomorphology
In tropical seas there are submerged hard bottoms that harbor corals but that are not coralline in origin. This is the case for the “Banco de las Ánimas” sector in the continental shelf of the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombian Caribbean. In... more
In tropical seas there are submerged hard bottoms that harbor corals but that are not coralline in origin. This is the case for the “Banco de las Ánimas” sector in the continental shelf of the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombian Caribbean. In its upper portion (14–16 m in depth), there are low mounds of sandstone blocks and slabs, conforming reefs, colonized by coralline biota and sparse corals. To confirm their lithology an initial petrographic analysis was carried out, which showed the rocks are made up of fine-grained sands, mature in texture, cemented by dolomite. It is proposed that these reefs were formed in a beach–dune–lagoon system during an ancient sea level, similar to the recent coastal bar of Salamanca. In these high-evaporation, supratidal saline environments, they could have been formed as beach rocks or as eolianites, by aragonite cementation, modified later into dolomite. Whether the foundation of the deeper coral formations of the bankis also sandstone or in fact corallin...
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Large earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction zone have left a distinct geologic signature in estuaries and low-elevation lakes on the west coast of Canada. Geologic evidence includes a record of episodic land subsidence, tsunami... more
Large earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction zone have left a distinct geologic signature in estuaries and low-elevation lakes on the west coast of Canada. Geologic evidence includes a record of episodic land subsidence, tsunami inundation and intertidal sedimentation. Accumulated strain between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates is periodically released in great (>Mw8) earthquakes which produce a predictable pattern of coseismic subsidence on the Pacific coast. The magnitude of coseismic subsidence decreases from a maximum of 2 m on the outermost coast to zero some 100 km to the east. The earthquakes trigger tsunamis that inundate low-lying coastal areas to heights of <20m in certain locations. The tsunamis leave distinct sheets of sand and gravel in the silt and peat sequences of coastal marshes and lakes; deposits thin and fine landward, and contain marine fossils. At tidal marshes within the zone of coseismic subsidence, the tsunami deposits abruptly overlie former...
RESUMEN En este trabajo se presentan las primeras dataciones obtenidas en Colombia mediante la aplicación del método de datación de fotoluminiscencia el cual permite datar el último momento en que un material estuvo expuesto a la luz y... more
RESUMEN En este trabajo se presentan las primeras dataciones obtenidas en Colombia mediante la aplicación del método de datación de fotoluminiscencia el cual permite datar el último momento en que un material estuvo expuesto a la luz y tiene un rango de aplicación que en condiciones óptimas va de 6 a 800 000 años, lo cual le confere gran importancia para el estudio de depósitos del Cuaternario superior. La zona de estudio comprende el Llano de Ovejas que constituye uno de los altiplanos de la cordillera Central. Las da-taciones se realizaron en las formaciones superfciales del Llano de Ovejas con énfasis en la stoneline, un horizonte de acumulación de clastos con carácter regional. Además se realizaron algunas dataciones de depósitos aluviales y coluviales infrayacentes a la stoneline. Las primeras edades obtenidas en el país por el método de fotoluminiscencia son las edades de la stoneline que incluyen 30 900 ± 4 500, 24 100 ± 3 800 y 18 900 ± 2 300 años para los horizontes FSO 07-...
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The May 22nd 1960 Chilean earthquake was the largest earthquake on record with a magnitude 9.5. The event caused extensive subsidence and uplift over wide areas (at least 130,000 km2) with uplift on the offshore South American Plate... more
The May 22nd 1960 Chilean earthquake was the largest earthquake on record with a magnitude 9.5. The event caused extensive subsidence and uplift over wide areas (at least 130,000 km2) with uplift on the offshore South American Plate margin and downwarping in the coastal and landward areas which ranged in magnitude from 1-2 m. Widespread damage occurred along the coast from the seismic shaking and the subsequent three tsunamis with the disaster area extending at least 800 km in a N-S direction. This study of 139 cores from the subtidal areas of the Rio Cruces demonstrates the potential of using detailed particle-size distribution (PSD) plots and thecamoebians as a tool for determining older coseismic subsidence events for the Valdivia area. The PSDs and thecamoebians differentiated three main facies which included: 1) the 1960 floodplain soil horizon, 2) the tsunami unit, and 3) the post-subsidence, riverine sediment infilling. In the floodplain soil horizon, thecamoebian abundances ...
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ABSTRACT Synonyms: Tsunami deposits; Tsunami sediments; Tsunamiite(s) Definition: Sediments eroded, reworked, transported, and deposited by a tsunami often generate deposits referred to as of tsunamigenic origin, hence tsunamigenic... more
ABSTRACT Synonyms: Tsunami deposits; Tsunami sediments; Tsunamiite(s) Definition: Sediments eroded, reworked, transported, and deposited by a tsunami often generate deposits referred to as of tsunamigenic origin, hence tsunamigenic sediments. They are a result of tsunami inundation pending coastal conditions and availability of material. Tsunami deposits contain “exotic” materials of allochthonous provenance when compared to the sediments present at the location the tsunami struck. Tsunami deposits are considered primary paleoseismic evidence when generated coseismically and can also be defined as off-fault instantaneous stratigraphic expressions of tectonic deformation (McCalpin 2009). Tsunami is a Japanese word meaning “harbor wave” and was adopted by the scientific community to define long-period waves generated by the sudden vertical displacement of a large volume of water within a water basin (e.g., estuary, lake, sea, ocean).
Research Interests: Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Coastal Processes, Coastal Geomorphology, and 15 moreGeochronology, OSL dating, Eolian sedimentation, Barrier Islands, Landforms, Dating, Barrier Island, Beach ridges, Coastal Geology Gulf of Mexico, Sedimentation rates, Luminescence, Gulf of Mexico, North East, CAP, and Sedimentation Rate
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El Provencio (Cuenca, España): Las posibilidades para la investigación de una nueva secuencia estratigráfica y arqueológica desde el Paleolítico Inferior al Medio) Esta breve comunicación contiene los resultados preliminares del proyecto... more
El Provencio (Cuenca, España): Las posibilidades para la investigación de una nueva secuencia estratigráfica
y arqueológica desde el Paleolítico Inferior al Medio)
Esta breve comunicación contiene los resultados preliminares del
proyecto de investigación arqueológica sobre el Paleolítico Inferior y Medio en el término municipal de El Provencio (Cuenca,
España). Durante los primeros 6 años de proyecto, se ha definido un hasta ahora desconocido complejo arqueológico con una
gran concentración de restos de industria lítica de Modos 1, 2 y 3, asociados a secuencias fluviales y lacustres de gran extensión.
Se presentan aquí las primeras edades obtenidas por dos métodos de datación complementarios: Resonancia Paramagnética
Electrónica (ESR por sus siglas en inglés) y Luminiscencia Óptica (OSL por sus siglas en inglés). Las fechas de 41 ka y 800 ka
corresponden a los niveles 2 y 3 de la secuencia estratigráfica respectivamente. El potencial arqueológico contenido en este
enclave sugiere una ocupación humana ininterrumpida e intensa de esta región durante 800 ka.
y arqueológica desde el Paleolítico Inferior al Medio)
Esta breve comunicación contiene los resultados preliminares del
proyecto de investigación arqueológica sobre el Paleolítico Inferior y Medio en el término municipal de El Provencio (Cuenca,
España). Durante los primeros 6 años de proyecto, se ha definido un hasta ahora desconocido complejo arqueológico con una
gran concentración de restos de industria lítica de Modos 1, 2 y 3, asociados a secuencias fluviales y lacustres de gran extensión.
Se presentan aquí las primeras edades obtenidas por dos métodos de datación complementarios: Resonancia Paramagnética
Electrónica (ESR por sus siglas en inglés) y Luminiscencia Óptica (OSL por sus siglas en inglés). Las fechas de 41 ka y 800 ka
corresponden a los niveles 2 y 3 de la secuencia estratigráfica respectivamente. El potencial arqueológico contenido en este
enclave sugiere una ocupación humana ininterrumpida e intensa de esta región durante 800 ka.
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At the ancient site of Akko/Acre, positioned on the northern side of the Haifa Bay, habitation patterns and anchorage locations changed over time. Causes for this are attributed to ecological and geomorphological fluctuations as well as... more
At the ancient site of Akko/Acre, positioned on the northern side of the Haifa Bay, habitation patterns and anchorage locations changed over time. Causes for this are attributed to ecological and geomorphological fluctuations as well as the impact of human processes. The area is influenced by the silt deposited by the River Na’aman, and coastal sedimentation controlled by littoral currents. Akko/Acre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the area. This article reviews a variety of attempts using ground penetrating radar, electric resistivity tomography, coring, and limited archaeological excavations, to reveal the changing locations of anchorages and harbours, and link these to variations in habitation patterns.