Nicolas Waldmann

University of Haifa, Marine Geosciences, Faculty Member

Followers

240

Following

Co-authors

Public Views

I am a geologist with a background in sedimentology and seismic stratigraphy analysis. I have actively participated in several fieldwork operations in Patagonia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

My research involve deciphering geological processes occurring in both marine and lacustrine sedimentary basins. My major research interests focuses in marine geology and limnogeology with application to paleoclimate and paleotectonism. I am particularly interested in sedimentary records as indicators for environmental and climate change as well as the sedimentary architecture of the subsurface, basins environments and petroleum resources.

Lately, I have been dealing with the distribution of gas hydrates on the Norwegian continental margin. This study has lead to improve the understanding of methane dynamics in relation to seafloor stability, which is of major importance both for safe oil and gas exploitation and for evaluation of the resource potential.

Earlier 2013, I established the Basin Analysis and Petrophysical laboratory facility at the University of Haifa. Research in the lab include amalgamation of seismic imaging with sedimentary cores.
Address: University of Haifa
Mt. Carmel
31905-Haifa
Israel

less

InterestsView All (18)

Uploads

Papers by Nicolas Waldmann

Discovery of a buried reef belt at the edge of the Israeli continental shelf: oceanographic implications for the Holocene East Mediterranean

he drowning of a siliciclastic shelf: insights into oceanographic reconstructions of the northern Arabian Platform during the Early Cretaceous.

Basin Research, 2018

Monsoons, Upwelling, and the Deoxygenation of the Northwestern Indian Ocean in Response to Middle to Late Miocene Global Climatic Shifts.

Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology , 2020

Chronology with a pinch of salt: Integrated stratigraphy of Messinian evaporites in the deep Eastern Mediterranean reveals long-lasting halite deposition during Atlantic connectivity

Earth-Science Reviews, 2019

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC; 5.97–5.33 Ma) is considered an extreme environmental event dr... more The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC; 5.97–5.33 Ma) is considered an extreme environmental event driven by changes in climate and tectonics, which affected global ocean salinity and shaped the biogeochemical composition of the Mediterranean Sea. Yet, after more than 50 years of research, MSC stratigraphy remains controversial. Recent studies agree that the transition from the underlying pre-evaporite sediments to thick halite deposits is conformal in the deep Eastern Mediterranean Basin. However, the age of the base and the duration of halite deposition are still unclear. Also disputed is the nature of the intermediate and upper MSC units, which are characterized as periods of increased clastic deposition into the Eastern Mediterranean based on marginal outcrops and seismic data. We provide a multidisciplinary study of sedimentary, geochemical, and geophysical data from industrial offshore wells in the Levant Basin, which recovered a sedimentary record of deep-basin Mediterranean evaporites deposited during the MSC. In combination with previous observations of the MSC throughout the Mediterranean Basin, our results promote the need for a new chronological model. Remarkably, the one-kilometer-thick lower part of the evaporitic unit is composed of essentially pure halite, except for a thin transitional anhydrite layer at its base. The halite is undisturbed and homogeneous, lacking diverse features apparent in more proximal sections, indicating a deep-sea depositional environment. We find that distinct, meters-thick non-evaporitic intervals interbedded with the halite, previously thought to be clastic layers, are diatomites. While XRD analysis confirms an increase in clastic components in these sediments, they are composed primarily of well-preserved marine and freshwater planktonic diatoms. The occurrence of marine planktonic diatoms in these intervals indicates the input of Atlantic waters into the Mediterranean Basin during the deposition of the massive halite unit. Seismic stratigraphy and well-log cyclostratigraphy further support deep basin halite deposition, which started about 300 kyr earlier than widely assumed (~5.97 Ma). We propose that halite deposition in the deep Mediterranean took place during stage 1 of the MSC, rather than being limited to the short 50 kyr MSC acme when sea level was presumably at its lowest. Thus, brine formation, salt precipitation, and faunal extinction occurred at least in part in a deep, non-desiccated basin, with a restricted yet open Mediterranean-Atlantic connection that allowed inflow of oceanic water. We observe an increase in heavy minerals and reworked fauna within the clastic-evaporitic, Interbedded Evaporites of the basinal MSC section, and argue that these settings correspond in the deep basins with a significant sea-level drawdown during stage 2 of the MSC, as observed in the marginal sections. This correlation is corroborated by astrochronology and chemostratigraphic markers, such as the distribution of n-alkanes and biomarker-based thermal maturity indices.

The Levant deposits indicate that high sea level and partial connectivity with global oceans promoted the deposition of deep-basin deep-water halite, while sea-level drawdown promoted deposition of reworked and transported material from the margins into deep Mediterranean basins. This study modifies the current understanding of the mechanisms governing salt deposition throughout the MSC with implications for other evaporitic events in the geologic record.

Gas Hydrates on the Norway - Barents Sea - Svalbard margin (GANS); an overview and preliminary results

by Bjørn Kvamme and Nicolas Waldmann

Agu Fall Meeting Abstracts, Dec 1, 2009

The Norwegian national gas hydrate project, GANS (Gas Hydrates on the Norway - Barents Sea - Sval... more The Norwegian national gas hydrate project, GANS (Gas Hydrates on the Norway - Barents Sea - Svalbard margin), has the main objective to quantify gas accumulations in the form of hydrates in sediments on the Norway-Barents Sea-Svalbard margin. This has also included an assessment of their dynamics and impacts on the seabed, to provide knowledge vital for a safe exploitation within oil and gas production. To achieve the main objective the following sub-goals were also defined: a) Geophysical characterisation of gas hydrates, b) Geological and geochemical setting of gas hydrate reservoirs and seeps, c) Gas hydrate dissociation and its effects on geomechanical properties, d) Theoretical and experimental evaluation of gas hydrate dynamics. Three contrasting target areas were selected for broad geophysical, geological and geochemical studies. An overview of the results achieved within this project so far will be presented, with emphasis on the multidisciplinary studies carried out.

Nicolas Waldmann

Uploads

Papers by Nicolas Waldmann

Log In