The archaeological site of Qasr Tilah, in the Wadi Araba, Jordan is located on the northern Wadi ... more The archaeological site of Qasr Tilah, in the Wadi Araba, Jordan is located on the northern Wadi Araba fault segment of the Dead Sea Transform. The site contains a Roman-period fort, a late Byzantine Early Umayyad birkeh (water reservoir) and aqueduct, and agricultural fields. The birkeh and aqueduct are left-laterally offset by coseismic slip across the northern Wadi Araba fault. Using paleoseismic and archaeological evidence collected from a trench excavated across the fault zone, we identified evidence for four ground-rupturing earthquakes. Radiocarbon dating from key stratigraphic horizons and relative dating using potsherds constrains the dates of the four earthquakes from the sixth to the nineteenth centuries. Individual earthquakes were dated to the seventh, ninth and eleventh centuries. The fault strand that slipped during the most recent event (MRE) extends to just below the modern ground surface and juxtaposes alluvial-fan sediments that lack in datable material with the modern ground surface, thus preventing us from dating the MRE except to constrain the event to post-eleventh century. These data suggest that the historical earthquakes of 634 or 659/660, 873, 1068, and 1546 probably ruptured this fault segment.
... ocean circulation patterns in the Natal Valley and Transkei basin, Southwest Indian Ocean Zvi... more ... ocean circulation patterns in the Natal Valley and Transkei basin, Southwest Indian Ocean Zvi Ben-Avraham ab, Tina M. Niemi c, Chris JH Hartnady b ... During a recent geophysical cruise in April 1992 abroad the Russian RV Professor Logachev of the Marine Polar Institute of St. ...
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jkh1@012.net.il ... The Multinational... more *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jkh1@012.net.il ... The Multinational Bathymetric Survey: Northern Gulf of 'Aqaba/Elat Poster ... Aharon (Ronnie) Sade,a,b John K. Hall,a,* Gideon Tibor,b,c Tina M. Niemi,d Zvi Ben-Avraham,e Abdallah A. Al-Zoubi,f Gal ...
Title: Noncharacteristic Slip on the Northern San Andreas Fault at the Vedanta Marsh, Marin Count... more Title: Noncharacteristic Slip on the Northern San Andreas Fault at the Vedanta Marsh, Marin County, CA. Authors: Zhang, H.; Niemi, TM; Allison, A.; Fumal, TE. Affiliation: AA(University of Missouri-Kansas City, 5100 Rockhill Road ...
The Vedanta marsh trench site is located along the San Andreas fault (SAF) near the town of Olema... more The Vedanta marsh trench site is located along the San Andreas fault (SAF) near the town of Olema approximately 45 km north of San Francisco. Excavations into the Vedanta marsh provided exposures of the sediment across the SAF zone that preserves a nearly continuous earthquake record over the past 3,000 years. Evidence for thirteen earthquakes was identified from the main
The Gulf of California is an archetype of continental rupture through transtensional rifting, and... more The Gulf of California is an archetype of continental rupture through transtensional rifting, and exploitation of a thermally weakened arc to produce a rift. Volcanic rocks of central Baja California record the transition from calcalkaline arc magmatism, due to subduction of the Farallon plate (ca. 24–12 Ma), to rift magmatism, related to the opening of the Gulf of California (<12 Ma). In addition, a suite of postsubduction rocks (<12 Ma), referred to as “bajaites,” are enriched in light rare-earth and other incompatible elements (e.g., Ba and Sr). These are further subdivided into high-magnesian andesite (with 50%–58% SiO2 and MgO >4%) and adakite (>56% SiO2 and MgO <3%). The bajaites correlate spatially with a fossil slab imaged under central Baja and are inferred to record postsubduction melting of the slab and subduction-modified mantle by asthenospheric upwelling associated with rifting or slab breakoff. We report on volcanic rocks of all three suites, which surr...
The archaeological site of Qasr Tilah, in the Wadi Araba, Jordan is located on the northern Wadi ... more The archaeological site of Qasr Tilah, in the Wadi Araba, Jordan is located on the northern Wadi Araba fault segment of the Dead Sea Transform. The site contains a Roman-period fort, a late Byzantine Early Umayyad birkeh (water reservoir) and aqueduct, and agricultural fields. The birkeh and aqueduct are left-laterally offset by coseismic slip across the northern Wadi Araba fault. Using paleoseismic and archaeological evidence collected from a trench excavated across the fault zone, we identified evidence for four ground-rupturing earthquakes. Radiocarbon dating from key stratigraphic horizons and relative dating using potsherds constrains the dates of the four earthquakes from the sixth to the nineteenth centuries. Individual earthquakes were dated to the seventh, ninth and eleventh centuries. The fault strand that slipped during the most recent event (MRE) extends to just below the modern ground surface and juxtaposes alluvial-fan sediments that lack in datable material with the modern ground surface, thus preventing us from dating the MRE except to constrain the event to post-eleventh century. These data suggest that the historical earthquakes of 634 or 659/660, 873, 1068, and 1546 probably ruptured this fault segment.
... ocean circulation patterns in the Natal Valley and Transkei basin, Southwest Indian Ocean Zvi... more ... ocean circulation patterns in the Natal Valley and Transkei basin, Southwest Indian Ocean Zvi Ben-Avraham ab, Tina M. Niemi c, Chris JH Hartnady b ... During a recent geophysical cruise in April 1992 abroad the Russian RV Professor Logachev of the Marine Polar Institute of St. ...
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jkh1@012.net.il ... The Multinational... more *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jkh1@012.net.il ... The Multinational Bathymetric Survey: Northern Gulf of &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x27;Aqaba/Elat Poster ... Aharon (Ronnie) Sade,a,b John K. Hall,a,* Gideon Tibor,b,c Tina M. Niemi,d Zvi Ben-Avraham,e Abdallah A. Al-Zoubi,f Gal ...
Title: Noncharacteristic Slip on the Northern San Andreas Fault at the Vedanta Marsh, Marin Count... more Title: Noncharacteristic Slip on the Northern San Andreas Fault at the Vedanta Marsh, Marin County, CA. Authors: Zhang, H.; Niemi, TM; Allison, A.; Fumal, TE. Affiliation: AA(University of Missouri-Kansas City, 5100 Rockhill Road ...
The Vedanta marsh trench site is located along the San Andreas fault (SAF) near the town of Olema... more The Vedanta marsh trench site is located along the San Andreas fault (SAF) near the town of Olema approximately 45 km north of San Francisco. Excavations into the Vedanta marsh provided exposures of the sediment across the SAF zone that preserves a nearly continuous earthquake record over the past 3,000 years. Evidence for thirteen earthquakes was identified from the main
The Gulf of California is an archetype of continental rupture through transtensional rifting, and... more The Gulf of California is an archetype of continental rupture through transtensional rifting, and exploitation of a thermally weakened arc to produce a rift. Volcanic rocks of central Baja California record the transition from calcalkaline arc magmatism, due to subduction of the Farallon plate (ca. 24–12 Ma), to rift magmatism, related to the opening of the Gulf of California (<12 Ma). In addition, a suite of postsubduction rocks (<12 Ma), referred to as “bajaites,” are enriched in light rare-earth and other incompatible elements (e.g., Ba and Sr). These are further subdivided into high-magnesian andesite (with 50%–58% SiO2 and MgO >4%) and adakite (>56% SiO2 and MgO <3%). The bajaites correlate spatially with a fossil slab imaged under central Baja and are inferred to record postsubduction melting of the slab and subduction-modified mantle by asthenospheric upwelling associated with rifting or slab breakoff. We report on volcanic rocks of all three suites, which surr...
The ancient ruins of the city of Aqaba are located at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba along the sei... more The ancient ruins of the city of Aqaba are located at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba along the seismically active Dead Sea Transf orm fault in southern Jordan. Detailed archaeological excavation and geologic mapping were conducted along an active
fault that cuts through Late Roman/Byzantine to Early Islamic deposits at the archaeological site of Aila in Aqaba. In this paper, we describe the stratigraphic evidence for ground-rupturing earthquakes that have affected the site and document the associated collapse, damage, and repair of the arc hitecture in antiquity. These data show that there have been seven earthquakes that have disrupted the archaeological deposits
since the second century a.d.,
based on evidence of faulting. Our data clearly show that historical earthquake catalogs are incomplete with regard to some of the less damaging earthquakes that have affected southern Jordan but may have played a significant role in the cultural history of the region.
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Papers by Tina M. Niemi
fault that cuts through Late Roman/Byzantine to Early Islamic deposits at the archaeological site of Aila in Aqaba. In this paper, we describe the stratigraphic evidence for ground-rupturing earthquakes that have affected the site and document the associated collapse, damage, and repair of the arc hitecture in antiquity. These data show that there have been seven earthquakes that have disrupted the archaeological deposits
since the second century a.d.,
based on evidence of faulting. Our data clearly show that historical earthquake catalogs are incomplete with regard to some of the less damaging earthquakes that have affected southern Jordan but may have played a significant role in the cultural history of the region.