deposit from a giant wave on the island of lanai hawaii limestone bearing gravel the newly named hulopoe gravel blankets the coastal slopes on lanai the deposit which reaches a maximum altitude of 326 meters formerly was believed to have been deposited along several different ancient marine strandlines but dated submerged coral reefs and tide gauge measurements indicate that the southeastern hawaiian islands sink so fast that former worldwide high stands of the sea now lie beneath local sea level evidence indicates that the hulopoe gravel and similar deposits on nearby islands were deposited during the pleistocene by a giant wave generated by a submarine landslide on a sea scarp south of lanai

sector collapse sedimentation and clast population evolution at an active island arc volcano stromboli italy sciara del fuoco is the subaerial part of a partially filled sector collapse scar that extends to 700 m below sea level on stromboli volcano the collapse occurred 2200 m and 10 km from the shore to the nnw a fan shaped mounded feature comprises debris avalanche deposits 4 km3 from two or more sector collapses volcaniclastic density currents originating from sciara del fuoco follow the topographic margin of the debris avalanche deposits although overbank currents and other unconfined currents widely cover the mounded feature with turbidites historical recorded eruptive activity in sciara del fuoco is considerably less than that which occurred earlier and much of the partial fill may have formed from eruptions soon after the sector collapse it is possible that a mass of eruptive products similar to that in the collapse scar is dispersed as volcanogenic sediment in deep water of the tyrhennian basin evidence that the early post collapse eruptive discharge was greater than the apparent recent flux 2kg s counters suggestions that a substantial part of stromboli s growth has been endogenous the partial fill of sciaria del fuoco is dominated by lava and spatter layers rather than by the scoria and ash layers classically regarded as main constituents of strombolian cinder cones much of the volcanic slope beneath the vents is steeper than the angle of repose of loose tephra which is therefore rapidly transported to the sea delicate pyroclasts that record the magmatic explosivity are selectively destroyed and diluted during sedimentary transport mainly in avalanches and by shoreline wave reworking and thus the submarine deposits do not record well the extent and diversity of explosive activity and associated clast forming processes considerable amounts of dense non vesicular fine sand and silt grains are produced by breakage and rounding of fragments of lava and agglutinate the submarine extension of the collapse scar and the continuing topographic depression to 2200 m below sea level are zones of considerable by passing of fine sand and silt which are transported in turbidity currents evidently volcanogenic sediments dispersed around island volcanoes by density currents are unlikely to record well the true spectrum and relative importance of clast forming processes that occurred during an eruption marine sedimentary evidence of magmatic explosivity is particularly susceptible to partial or complete obliteration unless there is a high rate of discharge of pyroclastic material into the sea

a tsunami deposit at the cretaceous tertiary boundary in texas at sites near the brazos river texas an iridium anomaly and the paleontologic cretaceous tertiary boundary directly overlie a sandstone bed in which coarse grained sandstone with large clasts of mudstone and reworked carbonate nodules grades upward to wave ripple laminated very fine grained sandstone this bed is the only sandstone bed in a sequence of uppermost cretaceous to lowermost paleocene mudstone that records about 1 million years of quiet water deposition in midshelf to outer shelf depths conditions for depositing such a sandstone layer at these depths are most consistent with the occurrence of a tsunami about 50 to 100 meters high the most likely source for such a tsunami at the cretaceous tertiary boundary is a bolidewater impact

evidence of saharan dust in upper pleistocene reworked palaeosols of north west sardinia italy palaeoenvironmental implications abstract a multi disciplinary approach was followed to investigate two thick palaeosolstrata that alternate with wind blown dominated deposits developed along thealghero coast north west sardinia italy optically stimulated luminescenceages reveal that both palaeosols were developed during cooler drier periods the rst one at around 70 ka marine isotope stage 4 and the latter around 50 ka marine isotope stage 3 in contrast the pedological features indicate that thepalaeosols underwent heavy weathering processes under warm humid to sub humid conditions characteristic of the sardinian climate during the lastinterglacial stage marine isotope stage 5e to reconcile this apparent datadiscrepancy a range of sedimentological and pedological analyses wereconducted these analyses reveal that the palaeosols possess a complexhistory with accumulation and weathering occurring during marine isotopestage 5e and erosion colluviation and nal deposition taking place during thefollowing cold stages thus even if these reddish palaeosols were last formedduring the glacial period the sediments building up these strata probablyrecord the climate of the last interglacial stage marine isotope stage 5e traceelement and x ray diffraction analyses together with scanning electronmicroscope images reveal the presence of saharan dust in the parentmaterial of the palaeosols however no evidence of any far travelled africandust has been observed in the marine isotope stage 4 3 aeolian deposits it ispossible to conclude that in the west mediterranean islands saharan dustinput even if of modest magnitude is preserved preferentially in soilsaccumulated and weathered during interglacial stages keywords marine isotopic stage mediterranean osl dating trace elementgeochemistry xrd analysis sedimentology 2012 59 917 938

sources of non glacial loess size quartz silt and the origins of desert loess abstract descriptions of peridesertic loess deposits and possible non glacial origins for silt size quartz are reviewed including direct release from weathered bedrock results from salt and frost weathering experiments are presented and methods by which sufficient energy can be imparted to sand size grains to release silt size fragments are identified these fragments may then be entrained by aeolian or fluvial action results from fluvial comminution experiments indicate that high energy mixed sediment fluvial systems may be very effective in generating quartz silt purely aeolian attrition is also seen as a major source of silt size and finer material results from aeolian abrasion experiments performed using crushed quartz sand are complemented by trials using sands from deeply weathered granite and pannonian sands from hungary field and laboratory observations are therefore seen to argue for the existence of deposits that can be classified as desert loess

tectonic seismicity at stromboli volcano italy from historical data and seismic records abstract we describe the main features of crustal tectonic seismicity in the area of stromboli aeolian islands a volcano known worldwide for its typical strombolian activity we consider data from the italian catalogues of earthquakes along with records of the local seismic network covering the time span from 1885 to 1998 in the historical catalogues we find a low occurrence rate of earthquakes with a small number of seismic events having intensity viii in the mercalli cancani sieberg scale recent instrumental data confirm this finding achieving a maximum magnitude m d 3 7 we explain this low tectonic seismicity as the effect of conditions which allow only a limited storage of stress from a seismic viewpoint the aeolian archipelago shows two different seismogenic domains spatially separated by the aeolian tindari giardini fault system one domain which includes the western and southern parts of the aeolian islands is characterized by crustal seismic activity the second domain which includes the eastern part of the archipelago where stromboli lies has a large number of intermediate and deep earthquakes but little crustal seismicity we surmise that each domain has vertical heterogeneity separating ductile deformation from brittle failure of rock induced by temperature conditions and or hydration dehydration reactions which affect the mechanical strength of the medium

unusual sedimentary deposits on the se side of stromboli volcano italy products of a tsunami caused by the ca 5000 years bp sciara del fuoco collapse abstract the role of sector collapse in the generation of catastrophic volcanigenic tsunami has become well understood only recently in part because of the problems in the preservation and recognition of tsunami deposits tinti et al tinti s bortolucci e romagnoli c 2000 computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at stromboli italy j volcanol geotherm res 96 103 128 modeled a tsunami produced by the c 5 000 years bp collapse of the sciara del fuoco on the island volcano stromboli although deposits associated with this event are generally lacking on the island volcaniclastic breccias on the se side of the island extending to an elevation above 120 m a s l may have been generated by this tsunami deposits above 100 m are dominated by coarse breccias comprising disorganized poorly sorted nonbedded angular to subangular lava blocks in a matrix of finer pyroclastic debris these breccias are interpreted as a water induced mass flow possibly a noncohesive debris flow generated as colluvial material on steep slopes was remobilized by the return flow of the tsunami wave the run up of which reached an elevation exceeding 120 m a s l finer breccias of subrounded to rounded lava blocks cropping out at 15 m a s l are similar to modern high energy beach deposits and are interpreted as beach material redeposited by the advancing tsunami wave the location of these deposits matches the predicted location of the maximum tsunami wave amplitude as calculated by modeling studies of tinti et al tinti s bortolucci e romagnoli c 2000 computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at stromboli italy j volcanol geotherm res 96 103 128 whereas the identification and modeling of paleo tsunami events is typically based on the observation of the sedimentary deposits of the tsunami run up return flow may be equally or more important in controlling patterns of sedimentation

environmental change in crete a 9000 year record of holocene vegetation history and the effect of the santorini eruption palynological investigations were carried out in the coastal lowland of northwestern crete in the area of lake kournas results comprise the longest continuous vegetation record 9000 radiocarbon years for crete from about 8500 to 7500 bp open deciduous oak forest occurred and appears to reflect the driest conditions of the holocene after 7500 bp tree pollen numbers increase some of these tree species are thought to be autochthonous but for at least six species this is doubted and the presence of their pollen is ascribed to long distance transport up to 6000 bp the local vegetation included deciduous and evergreen oaks pistacia phillyrea and a variety of herbs only after 7000 bp some species e g mercurialis annua cynocrambe and spores of pteridium might indicate the effects of neolithic habitation towards 6000 bp plane tree and styrax storax appear from about 6000 bp olive is present and human activity becomes more evident slowly pollen types indicative of the exploitation of present day mediterranean vegetation e g poterium and ericaceae appear and the presence of the alga gloeotrichia indicates a rise in phosphate a striking aspect of the sediment core nearest to the sea is a pumice layer originating from the theran santorini eruption from the manner of its deposition it is concluded that no tsunami met the cretan beach influence of the eruption from thera on the vegetation is hardly visible decrease of economically important cultivated plants e g olive already took place decades up to about a century before the volcanic eruption around the time of the eruption the values of some pollen types hardly changed others increased and another group decreased this pollen behaviour appears to be explained rather by socio economic changes such as withdrawing of the inhabitants to the interior for reasons other than volcanic effects it is concluded from the pollen cores that no major climatic changes affected northwestern crete during the holocene but the first two millennia of the holocene tended to be drier than the following period when there was an increase in moisture demanding trees it is difficult to assign changes in the cretan vegetation to climatic effects in a period when human impact was gathering strength

evaluation of palaeoenvironmental changes during the last 18 000 years in the myrtoon basin sw aegean sea abstract high resolution last glacial maximum to holocene palaeoenvironmental changes corresponding to a time interval between 200 and 500 years are examined in the myrtoon basin in the sw aegean sea using the abundance variation in foraminifera and pollen in relation to accelerator mass spectrometry 14 c dating and limited oxygen isotope data foram abundance variation shows that from 18 ka to the late glacial holocene boundary at around 10 5 to 9 5 ka the sea surface was cold during this period two intervals of relatively high and low sea surface temperature sst were observed the first high sst occurred at around 14 2 ka whereas the second high sst was centred at around 12 8 ka and appears to correspond to the termination 1a event the first low sst was centred at around 13 7 ka and the second low sst occurred between 11 8 and 10 8 ka the former event may correspond to the heinrich 1 event and the latter to the younger dryas chronozone the holocene started with a sharp warming of sea surface water reaching present day levels and probably associated with a reduction in salinity the formation of the sapropel sequence in the myrtoon basin started at about 10 ka about the same time as the sapropel formation in the other aegean basins which means that the environmental conditions became suitable for the formation of sapropels in the aegean about 800 years earlier than in the adriatic ionian and levantine basins within the sapropel sequence there are two high organic carbon corg content sublayers s 1 a 9 7 9 ka and s 1 b 7 3 6 9 ka separated by a lower corg content sublayer indicating variation in the oceanographic and climatic conditions prevailing in the area during the sapropel sequence formation the depositions of s 1 a and s 1 b coincide with an increase in sst increased temperature and enhanced fresh water inputs from the outflowing rivers in to the aegean sea which later was supplemented by the overflowing of the black sea lowered the sea surface density and reduced the vertical water masses circulation resulting in reduced bottom water ventilation the reduction of o 2 supply to the seabed in combination with increased fluxes of terrigenous and or marine organic matter were responsible for the creation of dysoxic to anoxic conditions in the seabed which led to the formation of sapropel s 1 the sapropel formation ended at 5 2 ka and about the same time the sst attained present day levels during the last glacial maximum and late glacial periods the pollen source area was providing a suitable environment for the growth and survival of arboreal taxa the source area was apparently ice free and was characterized by sufficient humidity and non lethal low temperatures probably only a few degrees colder than present day

salinity tolerance or marine organisms deduced from red sea quaternary record abstract the oxygen isotopic record and microfossils from deep sea cores raised in the hypersaline 41 salinity gulf of aqaba indicate that during late quaternary glacial time salinity rose considerably due to sea level fall and strait dynamics reaching values of more than 50 during the last glacial maximum about 18 ka b p the salinity dependent sequence of disappearance of various species of foraminifera pteropods and coccolithophorids can be used to determine upper salinity tolerance limits of different taxa only the pteropod creseis acicula and various benthonic foraminifera are able to withstand high salinities like those during the last glacial maximum

soils in the mediterranean region what makes them different mediterranean climates are characterized by winter rains with some months of excess rainfall over evatranspiration warm and dry summer months with moisutre deficits drying out soils and their annual vegetation xeric moisture regime they are found on western parts of all continents between the cooler temperature zone and the hot dry desert zone the largest mediterranean region surrounding the mediterranean sea extends over 4 300 000 km2 and exhibits a wide variety of soils and geo ecosystems characteristics landscape attributes are the high proportion of mountains with sleep slopes significant additions of saharan desert dust to practically all soils of the region and a large proportion of limestone and other calcareous rocks as soil parent materials characteristics soil behavior features are moderate weathering with pervection leaching lessivage of mostly 2 1 clays into b horizons xeralfs luvisols hematite induced reddening of the clays due to summer dehydration of free iron oxyhydroxides carbonate dissolution and reprecipitation with prevalence of calcic horizons xerolls calcisols in semiarid regions and development of vertisols mostly in lowlands where deep layers of swelling cracking clays have sedimented shallows soils on nearly bare slopes mostly a result of erosion subsequent to deforestation are frequent leptosols cambiosols inceptisols entisols red or brown mediterranean soils are no longer used as a separate classification group in modern well defined soil property controlled taxonomies soil taxonomy fao system but were partially replaced by duchaufour s term fersiallitic soils in some classification systems terra rossa continues to be used in some classification for hard limestone derived red soils mostly shallow the effects of man s past and current interference with the lanscape are pervasive in most regions and predictions for possible future effects on the soils and ecosystems due to greenhouse gas induced warming and rainfall change are partly negative partly still too uncertain

vertical displacement trends in the aegean coastal zone ne mediterranean during the holocene assessed by geo archaeological data trends in the vertical displacement i e uplift or subsidence of the aegean sea coastal zone have been assessed by comparing observational data with those derived from the predictive glacio hydro isostatic model of lambeck and purcell 2005 for a period spanning from the mesolithic to the late roman times the data base comprises published studies that use both geomorphological with associated biological material and archaeological sea level indicators markers localities demonstrating uplift of high amplitude were detected in front of the hellenic arc antikythira crete rhodes nisyros and in the northeast aegean region thrace whilst areas experiencing tectonic subsidence were mainly observed in the central aegean region which is characterized by an extensional tectonic domain however regional scale tectonic particularities have caused uplift in parts of the west and east coast of central aegean tectonically stable sites can be found in the cyclades plateau however this is due to a bala

benthic foraminiferal evidence and paleoenvironmental evolution of holocene coastal plains in the aegean sea greece abstract benthic foraminiferal composition of sedimentary successions during the last 7500 years was investigated from boreholes drilled in three rather tectonically stable coastal areas of the aegean sea alykes kitros lafrouda thrace and vravron attica the quantitative analysis of foraminiferal fauna enabled separation into two different groups that are supported by the analysis of modern benthic foraminiferal communities in the studied sites group a consists of ammonia tepida and haynesina germanica closed lagoon assemblage whereas the most common species of group b open lagoon assemblage are aubignyna perlucida miliolids elphidium spp and ammonia spp the foraminiferal composition integrated with radiometric dating provides information on holocene paleoenvironmental changes in the studied coastal plains related to sea land interaction alykes kitros and lafrouda thrace boreholes show a similar trend with an open lagoonal fauna in the lower part transitional upwards to closed lagoonal conditions this environmental change has taken place after 6500 cal bp in alykes kitros and around 3000 cal bp at lafrouda thrace the benthic communities of vravron attica borehole sediments seem to represent continuously an open lagoon shallow marine environment from 4700 to 400 cal bp

impact of late quaternary environmental changes on deep sea benthic foraminiferal faunas of the red sea abstract fluctuations in abundance diversity and species composition of benthic foraminifera from two sites of the northern and southern red sea indicate strong variability of deep sea ecosystems during the last four glacial to interglacial cycles in total five and four different benthic foraminiferal assemblages have been identified in the northern core and southern core respectively comparison with recent faunas from the red sea and adjacent oceans allowed the reconstruction of temporal changes in deep water ventilation salinity and food availability at the seafloor generally the abundance of infaunal and miliolid taxa increase during glacial intervals indicating increased organic matter fluxes oxygen decrease and salinity increase in deep waters during these times these fluctuations are attributed to enhanced oxygen consumption rates and temporarily reduced deep water formation in the northern red sea during glacial intervals the recorded environmental changes are a reflection of both high and low latitude climate changes the northern red sea is mainly influenced by glacio eustatic sea level fluctuations that control deep water formation rates and by mid latitude climate changes of the mediterranean region that control surface productivity in contrast deep sea ecosystem variability of the southern red sea is additionally influenced by low latitude climate changes attributed to the ne monsoon intensity that drives the inflow of nutrient rich surface waters from the gulf of aden these results demonstrate the high sensitivity of deep sea ecosystems of the red sea to both global and regional climate changes

stratigraphic and paleoceanographic significance of late quaternary pteropods from deep sea cores in the gulf of aqaba elat and northernmost red sea abstract the quantitative distribution of 16 thecosomatous pteropod species from four deep sea cores recovered from the gulf of aqaba elat and northernmost red sea is summarized the distribution facilitates a relatively high resolution stratigraphic subdivision of the 6 8 m long core sequences and their correlation the sequences of pteropod assemblages can be related to oxygen isotope curves and thus dated beyond the radiocarbon range the oldest strata penetrated are dated at about 150 000 yr b p considering the present day distribution of the species recognized the core assemblages are of a tropical subtropical character throughout the late quaternary on the basis of the composition of the living pteropod populations in the hypersaline 41 moderately oligotrophic and desert enclosed gulf of aqaba the pteropod core assemblages associated foraminiferal assemblages and the oxygen isotope values determined on both groups a sequence of paleoceanographic changes during the late quaternary is derived these changes are primarily influenced by productivity of the waters and pertain less to temperature and salinity the glacial periods isotope stages 2 3 4 and upper 6 were characterized by lower temperature than at present higher salinity and greater fertility of the waters during the glacial maxima monospecific creseis acicula assemblages characterize periods of metahaline more than 50 salinity conditions in highly productive waters although not identical in detail the last interglacial stage 5 assemblages are similar to the holocene warm water oligotrophic ones between 8000 and 3000 yr b p a short period of slightly higher productivity is indicated

geoarchaeology of ancient aulis boeotia central greece human occupation and holocene landscape changes abstract this article presents the results of a coring operation which brought to light new evidence for the evolution of the coastal plain of aulis boeotia central greece in the holocene thanks to homer aulis is best known as the gathering point of the achaean fleet before it sailed to troy and a sanctuary of the goddess artemis ancient sources and archaeological evidence suggest the presence of an ancient marine bay potentially used as a harbor in the course of investigation we drilled two cores to a maximum depth of 4 20 m in the marshy lowlands and performed mollusc and micro paleontological identifications laser grain size analyses and magnetic susceptibility measurements in order to reveal the facies evolution of the area we obtained a chronostratigraphy sequence through a series of seven ams 14 c radiocarbon dates our study shows that the area was affected by a shallow marine incursion from the first half of the 6th millennium bc and gradually turned into a succession of shallow marine lagoon environments from ca 5000 cal bc to the 2nd century ad and into a confined lagoon environment during the roman and byzantine periods

dynamics of the december 2002 flank failure and tsunami at stromboli volcano inferred by volcanological and geophysical observations 1 the 2002 effusive flank eruption at stromboli volcano started on december 28 after several months of strong explosive activity at the summit craters on december 30 the seismic network recorded two large flank failures and associated tsunami waves this is the first time that a flank collapse and tsunami and their associated phenomena have been recorded by a multi disciplinary monitoring system volcanological and geophysical monitoring as well as thermal surveys performed immediately before and after the failure allowed us to define and interpret the sequence of events the still on going eruption has provided for the first time the opportunity to look into the dynamics of stromboli s effusive eruptions flank failure and landslide formation and their potential hazard

paleoenvironmental changes since 3000 bc in the coastal marsh of vravron attica se greece abstract the coastal area of the vravron bay in the vicinity of the homonym archaeological site is a marshy plain located on the eastern part of the attica peninsula eastern greece in order to provide evidence for palaeoenvironmental changes and landscape evolution of the area detailed micropaleontological palynological and sedimentological analyses have been conducted at the underlying late holocene coastal deposits the recovered sediments lithostratigraphic units a d represent a continuous record of the environmental history of the area since the early bronze age covering all subsequent historical periods the base of the recovered deposits is older than the 3rd millennium bc until late medieval times the studied sequence contains plenty evidence for the existence of the natural port reported from the mycenaean lithostratigraphic unit a that infilled after repeated flooding events during the classic period lithostratigraphic unit b and gradually developed into a shallower marine environment lithostratigraphic unit c in the uppermost part of the sequence lithostratigraphic unit d a transition towards brackish environment with intense fresh water input is featured around 1540 ad signs of human agricultural activities in vravron appear since 3000 bc early bronze age and are linked to the history of inhabitation in the area

computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at stromboli italy abstract stromboli is an island volcano of the aeolian volcanic arc characterised by persistent activity the cone rises about 2500 3000 m from its submarine base with very steep slopes its summit at 924 m above the sea level the subaerial growth of stromboli occurred in the last 100 ka has been marked by repeated episodes of large gravitational collapses especially affecting the nw flank of the island in the last 13 ka the last one occurred less than 5000 years ago forming the deep depression on the nw seaward flank named sciara del fuoco sdf and it produced very likely large water waves this paper envisages a scenario where a huge mass of volcanic material collapses into the sea in the same sector in which the sdf collapse took place in holocenic times and it computes possible tsunami evolutions assuming the present day bathymetry numerical simulations are performed by means of two distinct models one for the mass collapse and one for the tsunami slope failure dynamics are calculated with the aid of a lagrangian model the landslide is subdivided into blocks and the motion of each constituent block is calculated by applying the basic principle of mechanical momentum conservation with block block and block ambient interactions being taken into account water waves are computed by solving a system of shallow water equations including a forcing term dependent on the sliding mass motion the finite element fe technique is employed since it permits the use of non uniform grids which are adequate to account for marine basins with irregular coastlines in addition to the sensitivity analysis concerning the main parameters governing the slide motion two main cases are explored differing in the slide path followed by the mass the resulting tsunami is very large with giant waves as high as several meters tens of meters in the worst cases impinging the coast due to the strong wave refraction induced by bathymetry waves travel around the island affecting even the island coast opposite the source

tsunami sedimentary facies deposited by the storegga tsunami in shallow marine basins and coastal lakes western norway sedimentary successions in small coastal lakes situated from 0 to 11 m above the 7000 year bp shoreline along the western coast of norway contain a distinctive deposit very different from the sediments above and below the deposit is interpreted to be the result of a tsunami inundating the coastal lakes an erosional unconformity underlies the tsunami facies and is traced throughout the basins with most erosion found at the seaward portion of the lakes the lowermost tsunami facies is a graded or massive sand that locally contains marine fossils the sand thins and decreases in grain size in a landward direction above follows coarse organic detritus with rip up clasts here termed organic conglomerate and finer organic detritus the tsunami unit generally fines and thins upwards the higher basins 6 11 m above the 7000 year shoreline show one sand bed whereas basins closer to the sea level 7000 years ago may show several sand beds separated by organic detritus these alternations in the lower basins may reflect repeated waves of sea water entering the lakes in basins that were some few metres below sea level at 7000 years bp the tsunami deposit is more minerogenic and commonly present as graded sand beds but also in some of these shallow marine basins organic rich facies occur between the sand beds the total thickness of the tsunami deposit is 20 100 cm in most studied sites an erosional and depositional model of the tsunami facies is developed

active faulting at the corinth canal based on surface observations borehole data and paleoenvironmental interpretations passive rupture during the 1981 earthquake sequence abstract the most important active fault that crosses the corinth canal is studied in detail involving surface observations borehole data and paleoenvironmental interpretations this fault intersects and or is parallel and at short distances from major infrastructure facilities such as the athens corinth highway the railway and the corinth canal it is a secondary structure accommodating displacement between the other major e w trending active faults it exerts an influence on the topography and the stratigraphy backtilting middle pleistocene sediments on its immediate footwall showing also significant synsedimentary activity it has a short length 5 5 km and is not expected to produce extensive primary surface ruptures and large displacements

late postglacial paleoenvironmental change in the northeastern mediterranean region combined palynological and molecular biomarker evidence three gravity cores collected from the ne mediterranean nemr across a transect from the northern aegean sea north skyros basin to the south cretan margin scm were investigated for pollen and terrestrial biomarkers derived from epicuticular waxes of vascular plants during the last 20 ky pollen data show diversified mixed temperate forest in the northern borderlands and enhanced mediterranean vegetation in the southern areas documenting an n s climatic trend terrestrial plant biomarkers and their diagnostic geochemical indices exhibit latitudinal patterns which are interpreted in terms of the different delivery pathways fluvial runoff vs atmospheric transport resulting from the climate conditions during different periods during the late glacial and early deglaciation periods 20 14 ka bp relatively increased humidity h index is recorded in the north aegean sea while in the south drier climate was the limiting factor for vegetation development during this interval terrestrial n alkanes showed increased accumulation rates suggesting massive transport of terrestrial organic matter through runoffs and rivers followed by weaker input after 14 ka bp after 11 ka bp a major expansion of forest cover is evidenced in the nemr accompanied by a higher h index because of the climatic amelioration the forest vegetation exhibited regionally different characteristics with cool temperate taxa being more abundant in the aegean cores while the scm record is being featured by mediterranean elements at the onset of the holocene and throughout the holocene climatic optimum the delivery of terrestrial biomarkers increased and became more significant in the aegean sites compared to the scm site within the holocene the average chain length acl of long chain n alkanes exhibits lower values in the northern aegean than in the southeastern aegean and scm indicating the predominance of warmer species southwards finally the h index records a conspicuous humidity increase between 5 4 and 4 3 ka bp in the south aegean that coincides with an increase in the terrestrial biomarker supply and the deposition of a distinct sapropel like layer smh sapropel mid holocene similar trends in t temperature and h indices are slightly delayed and attenuated in the northern aegean and are accompanied by an increase in the acl index a noticeable increase in the accumulation rates ars of terrestrial biomarkers and the hpa index values during this period are clearly recorded in all three cores indicative of enhanced terrigenous inputs of organic matter along with higher in situ preservation

environmental evolution of the paliouras coastal lagoon in the eastern thermaikos gulf greece during holocene the integration of lithology determination micropaleontological and molluscan analyses scanning electron microscopy magnetic susceptibility measurement and radiocarbon dating contributed to the interpretation of a sedimentary succession recovered from a 870 cm long borehole drilled at the paliouras coastal lagoon in the eastern thermaikos gulf greece in this way the reconstruction of the creation and evolution of the lagoon during the last 8000 years was accomplished four main evolutionary phases are identified 1 initially the pre holocene basement of the study area was inundated during the early holocene marine transgression 2 since 8000 7900 cal yr bp an inner lagoon had been formed in the paliouras coastal plain within a rather restricted environment characterized by a haynesina germanica cerastoderma glaucum and hydrobia sp assemblage relatively high sediment magnetic susceptibility and an intense presence of abnormal foraminiferal tests and lenticular gypsum crystals 3 during 7600 6900 cal yr bp the inner lagoon presented a transition to an open system clearly connected to the sea and characterized by an ammonia beccarii aubignyna perlucida and miliolids assemblage more diversified molluscan fauna minimum sediment magnetic susceptibility and the occurrence of lenticular gypsum aggregates and finally 4 since 5900 cal yr bp to the present time the lagoon water body appears isolated from the marine environment except of occasional seawater intrusions the proposed evolutionary scenario for the paliouras coastal lagoon is in accordance with the existing models of the sea level rise in the aegean coastal areas concerning the time span before 4000 yr bp and the mid late holocene climate events

particle size fractionation of eolian sand along the sinai negev erg of egypt and israel eolian sand fractions along the west east transport system of the northern sinai peninsula northwestern negev erg of egypt and israel were analyzed in this study with regard to source dune geomorphology eolian transport and paleoclimate the studied erg is composed of active linear seif dunes in northern sinai western part and stabilized vegetated linear dunes in the nw negev dune field eastern part linear seif dunes differ from vegetated linear dunes in their vegetation cover linearity internal structure and dynamics sand samples were analyzed for sand grain morphology and particle size distribution although both dune types are continuous landforms with similar orientations and sand grain roundness values the linear dunes of sinai are coarser grained than the negev vegetated linear dunes the vegetated linear dunes have a variable but higher proportion of very fine sand 50 125 m content and a varying but lower sand fining ratio defined as the ratio of fine sand percentage to very fine sand percentage from these observations we infer that fractionation of sand occurred along the studied eolian transport path during periods of enhanced windiness very fine sands are suggested to have been transported by saltation and low suspension from source deposits and sand sheets we suggest that a significant proportion of the very fine sand fraction of nile delta sands has been transported downwind through northern sinai during the late pleistocene especially when linear dunes reached the nw negev due to last glacial period windiness and probably larger sediment supply generally decreasing wind velocities and increasing precipitation along the west east dune transport path enhanced vegetative cover in the northern negev and enabled deposition of the very fine sand component within the dunes and probably further downwind our results suggest that particle size distribution can elucidate much about erg history over time scales of a glacial interglacial cycle especially in cases where the sand provenance is of a single dominant source

the 1741 oshima oshima eruption extent and volume of submarine debris avalanche oshima oshima is a small volcanic island southwest off hokkaido in japan sea the violent eruption on august 29 1741 caused a sector collapse of the north flank very destructive tsunami with 2000 casualties was also documented but the generation mechanism has been controversial volume of subaerial sector collapse about 0 4 km was considered too small to generate such a devastating tsunami we compile and analyze recently obtained swath bathymetry data around the island the volcano is more than 2 3 km high from ocean bottom with its base diameter of 18 km the total slide volume both subaerial and submarine is estimated as 2 4 km nearly an order of magnitude larger than the subaerial part to the north of island hummocky terrain of debris deposits extends in an area of 69 km with the total volume of 2 5 km a value similar to the total slide volume it is one of the largest debris avalanches in historic time and probably responsible to the tsunami generation

speleothem evidence for late holocene climate variability and floods in southern greece abstract we present stable isotope data 18o 13c from a detrital rich stalagmite from kapsia cave the peloponnese greece the cave is rich in archeological remains and there are reasons to believe that flooding of the cave has directly affected humans using the cave using a combination of u th and 14c dating to constrain a site specific correction factor for 232th 238u detrital molar ratio a linear age model was constructed the age model shows that the stalagmite grew during the period from ca 950 bc to ca ad 830 the stable oxygen record from kapsia indicates cyclical changes of close to 500 yr in precipitation amount with rapid shifts towards wetter conditions followed by slowly developing aridity superimposed on this signal wetter conditions are inferred around 850 700 500 and 400 100 bc and around ad 160 300 and ad 770 and driest conditions are inferred to have occurred around 450 bc ad 100 150 and ad 650 detrital horizons in the stalagmite indicate that three major floods took place in the cave at 500 bc 70 bc and ad 450 the stable carbon isotope record reflects changes in biological activity being a result of both climate and human activities

multiple sector collapses at stromboli volcano italy how they work this paper demonstrates that four large sector collapses have affected the nw flank of the stromboli volcano in the past 13 ka alternating with growth phases in order to contribute to the evaluation of the critical conditions which trigger lateral collapses a reconstruction of the geometry of each collapse of the volcano edifice in the four stages that preceded the relative collapse events is also presented and a computation of the landslide volume this reconstruction is based on new field data plotted in three dimensions prior to the initial 13 ka collapse the volcano was 1125 100 m high above sea level the collapse had a volume of 2 23 0 87 km3 whereas the pre collapse volcano volume was 218 8 7 7 km3 the next edifice that failed was 900 70 m high a s l the collapse volume was 1 0 54 km3 with a precollapse volcano volume of 201 4 5 4 km3 the edifice then grew to 1000 60 m a s l the third collapse had a volume of 1 08 0 39 km3 and occurred within a volcano with a volume of 209 1 4 6 km3 this was followed by a new growth phase followed by the last collapse with a volume of 0 73 0 22 km3 the volcano volume was about the same as the present one the present active crater zone is at 780 m a s l in the first three collapses sliding surfaces cut the main magma conduit in the last collapse the upper scarp coincided with the conduit location dyking along a main ne trending weakness zone across the volcano summit exerted a lateral force for collapse inception the decrease of the landslide volumes with the age and the concentric scarps of the four collapses suggest that the younger sliding planes tended to become more superficial and to decrease the areal extent this is interpreted as due to a successively weaker eruptive products from dominantly lavas to dominantly pyroclastics and b the feedback effects between collapses and dykes that injected along the lateral segments of the first collapse slide plane

holocene palaeogeographical reconstruction of the western part of naxos island greece abstract naxos island is situated in the cycladic plateau middle aegean sea and consists of concaved beach zones separated by small headlands this study investigates the diachronic palaeo shoreline shift due to the sea level change and its effect to the palaeo environmental evolution of the western coastal part of naxos island during the late holocene for this purpose six boreholes were drilled and dated using radiocarbon techniques the associated geomorphological sedimentological and paleontological investigation concluded that during late holocene the embayments of naxos western coastal part were frequently exposed and their communication with the sea was not perennial the coastal area was wider with many active lagoons and embayment changing from shallow marine environment to coastal environment frequently alternating to brackish mesohaline one the former sea level position in western naxos island should be between 1 5 m and 2 m during the last 2000 years which may partly reflect eustatic processes and partly a gradual or coseismic land subsidence

climate variability and socio environmental changes in the northern aegean ne mediterranean during the last 1500 years abstract we provide new evidence on sea surface temperature sst variations and paleoceanographic paleoenvironmental changes over the past 1500 years for the north aegean sea ne mediterranean the reconstructions are based on multiproxy analyses obtained from the high resolution decadal to multi decadal marine record m2 retrieved from the athos basin reconstructed ssts show an increase from ca 850 to 950 ad and from ca 1100 to 1300 ad a cooling phase of almost 1 5 c is observed from ca 1600 ad to 1700 ad this seems to have been the starting point of a continuous sst warming trend until the end of the reconstructed period interrupted by two prominent cooling events at 1832 15 ad and 1995 1 ad application of an adaptive kernel smoothing suggests that the current warming in the reconstructed ssts of the north aegean might be unprecedented in the context of the past 1500 years internal variability in atmospheric oceanic circulations systems as well as external forcing as solar radiation and volcanic activity could have affected temperature variations in the north aegean sea over the past 1500 years the marked temperature drop of approximately 2 c at 1832 15 yr ad could be related to the 1809 d unknown and the 1815 ad tambora volcanic eruptions paleoenvironmental proxy indices of the m2 record show enhanced riverine continental inputs in the northern aegean after ca 1450 ad the paleoclimatic evidence derived from the m2 record is combined with a socio environmental study of the history of the north aegean region we show that the cultivation of temperature sensitive crops i e walnut vine and olive co occurred with stable and warmer temperatures while its end coincided with a significant episode of cooler temperatures periods of agricultural growth in macedonia coincide with periods of warmer and more stable ssts but further exploration is required in order to identify the causal links behind the observed phenomena the black death likely caused major changes in agricultural activity in the north aegean region as reflected in the pollen data from land sites of macedonia and the m2 proxy reconstructions finally we conclude that the early modern peaks in mountain vegetation in the rhodope and macedonia highlands visible also in the m2 record were very likely climate driven

the potential influence of dust flux and chemical weathering on hillslope morphology convex soil mantled carbonate hillslopes in the eastern mediterranean abstract convex soil covered hillslopes are ubiquitous in various tectonic and climatic settings and their morphologic characteristics can be significantly altered by dust flux and chemical weathering carbonate hillslopes across the eastern mediterranean display a classic convex morphology despite high rates of dust deposition which are apparently similar in magnitude to denudation rates and despite a highly soluble bedrock lithology these high rates of dust flux and bedrock dissolution result in soil composition which is strikingly different from the underlying bedrock in this study we apply a modified regolith mass balance equation which includes dust input and chemical depletion and utilize a combination of field work and geochemical methods immobile and major elements xrd to estimate the fraction of dust derived materials in the soil and the fraction of the soil that was lost via dissolution soil and bedrock were sampled at 7 eastern mediterranean study sites across a prominent north to south gradient in both precipitation 250 to 900 mm yr 1 and dust flux 150 to 40 g m 2 yr 1 and compared with dust composition our results indicate that the dust fraction in the soil correlates with modern measurements of dust deposition rates and decrease from nearly 100 of the 2 mm indicating that mechanical weathering of the underlying bedrock contributes to regolith formation and plays a role in shaping carbonate hillslopes using a commonly used soil transport model we show that the observed dust fraction and chemical weathering can potentially account for a 50 change in hillslope curvature furthermore the predicted steady state hilltop curvature based on our results fits well the observed curvature based on high resolution lidar derived topographic data our results highlight the potential importance of dust and chemical weathering in soil production formulations and hillslope evolution models and we propose that these contributors to soil mass balance could also be relevant for silicate terrain in addition we also demonstrate that the source material of mediterranean soils varies with environmental factors such as rainfall dust deposition rates and bedrock mechanical properties

sedimentology of the debris flow dominated warm spring canyon alluvial fan death valley california facies analysis of widely distributed exposures of the 32 6 km2 and 8 1 km long warm spring canyon fan central death valley shows that it has been built principally by debris flow deposits these deposits were derived from a mature panamint range catchment mostly underlain by precambrian mudrock quartzite and dolomite stacked clast rich and matrix supported debris flow lobes of slightly bouldery muddy pebble cobble gravel in beds 20 150 cm thick dominate the fan from apex to toe accounting for 75 98 of most exposures interstratified with the debris flows are less abundant 2 25 of cuts thinner 5 30 cm and more discontinuous beds of clast supported and imbricated pebble cobble gravel deposited by overland flows and gully flows this facies formed by the surficial fine fraction water winnowing of the debris flows primarily during recessional flood stage of the debris flow events two other facies associations make up a small part of the fan the incised channel tract consists of a 250 m wide clast supported ribbon of irregularly to thickly bedded boulder pebble cobble gravel nested within debris flow deposits this channel fill is oriented generally perpendicular to the panamint range front it formed by extensive erosion and winnowing of debris flows deposited within the incised channel into which all water discharge from the catchment is funnelled the limited presence of this facies only straddling the present incised channel indicates that this channel overall has maintained a consistent position on the fan except for slight lateral shifts some caused by strike slip offset fault offset temporarily closed the upper incised channel causing recessional debris flow mud to be ponded behind the dam the other local facies assemblage consists of subrounded to rounded moderately sorted pebble gravel in low angle cross beds that slope both basinwards and fanwards this gravel was deposited in beachface backshore and shoreface barrier spit environments that developed where lake manly impinged on the warm spring fan during late pleistocene time these deposits straddle headcuts into and were derived from erosion of the debris flow deposits wave energy sorted finer sediment from the shore zone concentrated coarser sediment and rounded the coarse to very coarse pebble fraction by selective reworking

late holocene shorelines in east attica greece abstract a coastal and submarine geomorphological investigation took place in the coasts of eastern attica aiming to identify palaeoshorelines former sea level positions were deduced from emerged and submerged tidal notches eight fossil shorelines were deduced in the study area two emerged ones at about 24 30 and 40 30 cm and six submerged ones at about 22 30 modern 40 30 60 30 80 30 130 30 and 460 30 cm it is worth mentioning that a rather different tectonic behavior may be distinguished between the south at1 at5 and the north at10 at28 part of the study area

paleosols provide sedimentation relative age and climatic information about the alluvial fan of the river tirso central western sardinia italy four representative paleosols in the plio pleistocene alluvial fan of the river tirso central western sardinia italy were studied for paleoenvironmental information to describe the sedimentology of the alluvial fan and to define a relative chronological framework for the fan the representative depositional units and associated paleosols were characterised by fieldwork physical chemical and mineralogical analyses pedogenesis was mostly driven by the time and climate factors in the proximal fan location pedogenesis was initially influenced by a warm subtropical tropical climate of the late pliocene and subsequently by warm and humid interglacial phases of the pleistocene these phases were also responsible for soil formation in the middle fan in the distal reaches of the fan pedogenesis was driven by the different climatic pulses of the late pleistocene tyrrhenian interglacial mis 5 pleistocene eustatic sea level changes directly influenced the lowest elevations of the middle fan and the distal fan erosion and soil truncation mainly occurred in the proximal fan and at the highest elevations of the middle fan during glacial phases

geomorphological effects of tsunami run up and backwash abstract geomorphological processes associated with tsunami run up and backwash are highly complex to date most studies have considered the sedimentology of palaeo tsunamis while almost no detailed studies have been undertaken in areas known to have been affected by tsunamis in recent times research on contemporary tsunamis show that coastal landscapes may be greatly altered not only by direct tsunami run up orthogonal to the shoreline but also by episodes of vigorous backwash and by water flow sub parallel to the coastline the combined effect of these processes produces hitherto unrecognised coastal landforms that are dominated by the effects of high magnitude erosion and deposition deposition of large boulders is also associated with severe tsunamis while in adjacent areas run up processes often result in the deposition of continuous and discontinuous sediment sheets in many instances the upper limit of sediment deposition lies well below the upper limit of wave run up which is frequently marked by a well defined zone of stripped vegetation and soil the processes described have considerable implications for models of coastal evolution it may even be the case that the evolution of particular stretches of coastline are dominated by such high magnitude low frequency events

eolian dust deposition on the giara di gesturi basalt plateau sardinia mineralogical study of samples from depression fills on an isolated basalt plateau in central sardinia showed that although the basalt is free of quartz and mica fair amounts of these minerals occur in the finer fractions results from x ray analyses of silt fractions and morphoscopical analyses of sand fractions indicate that the bulk of the quartz and mica is of eolian origin the eolian quartz is predominantly of medium and coarse silt size and in the upper 10 cm of the depression fills constitutes about 20 per cent of the soil mass approx 20 kg m2 eolian mica is present in smaller amounts and is of medium silt or smaller size the provenance of the eolian material could not be established with certainty although a local origin can be excluded

late glacial holocene climate variability at the south eastern margin of the aegean sea abstract new micropaleontological palynological and geochemical results from a relatively shallow 500 m sediment core ns 14 in the south eastern aegean sea provide a detailed picture of the regional expression of sapropel s1 formation in this sub basin of the eastern mediterranean sea specifically freshwater input during 10 6 10 0 ka bp has preceded the deposition of s1 further decrease in surface water salinity is evidenced between 10 0 and 8 5 ka bp at the lower part of s1a which in respect to s1b is featured by warmer 19 5 c and more productive surface waters associated with dysoxic bottom conditions a series of coolings detected within the s1 depositional interval may be linked to outbursts of cold northerly air masses and relevant pulses in the deep intermediate water ventilation that caused the s1 interruption between 7 9 and 7 3 ka bp and culminated during the deposition of s1b with the decline of deep chlorophyll maximum dcm at 6 5 ka bp the climate instability and the relevant absence of anoxia weakened the organic matter preservation in the shallow south eastern aegean margin during the s1 times ns 14 record provides evidence for a distinct mid holocene warm up to 25 c and wet phase associated with the deposition of the sapropel like layer smh sapropel mid holocene between 5 4 and 4 3 ka bp the smh layer could represent evidence of on going albeit weak african monsoon forcing only expressed at the south eastern edge of the aegean sea its end is associated with the 4 2 ka bp northern hemisphere mega drought event and the termination of the african humid period at 3 8 ka bp

late quaternary eolian deposition in central italy abstract records of eolian quartz from two continuous sediment sequences drilled in lagaccione and lago di vico volcanic lakes in central italy contribute to the knowledge of eolian deposition in the central mediterranean during the last 100 000 years the chronology is based on 14 c and 40 ar 39 ar dating and tephra analysis pollen data provide the paleoenvironmental framework and enable correlation between the cores eolian inputs were high during the steppe phases corresponding to oxygen isotope stages 4 and 2 low inputs correspond to the forest phases of the last interglacial and the middle holocene eolian inputs have increased in the late holocene patterns of eolian deposition in central italy resemble the antarctic dust record from the vostok ice core the italian patterns may also correspond with hydrological changes registered in north africa the main source of dust loading over the mediterranean now north africa may have played an important role in dust supply throughout the last climatic cycle

a past giant lateral collapse and present day flank instability of fogo cape verde islands fogo island is a large and extremely steepsided oceanic island volcano in the cape verde archipelago it has a large ca 9 km across east facing summit collapse structure the monte amarelo collapse with a probable volume of at least 150 200 km3 for most of its history the monte amarelo volcano had a small but productive central vent complex and radial rift zones fed by laterally propagating dykes shortly before the collapse the latter were replaced by north south trending arrays of en echelon vertically propagating dykes since the monte amarelo collapse the scar has partly filled with a new volcano the cha das caldeiras volcano the summit cone of this volcano the pico do fogo is a very young feature but has been abandoned in the most recent phase of activity from the 18th century onwards the same period has also seen the abandonment of earlier radial rift zones with laterally propagating dykes and their replacement with en echelon arrays of vents fed by vertically propagating dykes these form an n s trending array within the older collapse structure and are associated with seaward displacement of the eastern flank of the volcano within the old collapse structure the most recent eruptions those of 1951 and 1995 appear to be associated with episodes of flank instability manifested in n s surface fissuring and east facing normal faults these recent structural changes in the volcano parallel those which took place in the monte amarelo volcano prior to its collapse

geomorphological changes in the coastal area of farasan al kabir island saudi arabia since mid holocene based on a multi proxy approach abstract the geomorphological evolution of the southeastern coastal area of farasan al kabir island saudi arabia is revealed by the mapping of modern landforms and a multi proxy and high spatial resolution study including grain size particulate organic carbon mineralogy element geochemistry benthic foraminifera analysis and radiocarbon dating of a 3 3 m long sediment core the modern geomorphological features comprise a variety of arid landforms such as plateau cliffs and pediments of pleistocene coral limestones playa depressions located on plateau surfaces alluvial fans butte and sandy beaches the mid holocene evolution of the borehole area is resulted from the detailed analysis of five sedimentary units detected along the core matar 1 and includes three distinct stages a from 5253 223 y cal bp to 3138 223 y cal bp carbonate coarse grained material consisting of coral fragments molluscs calcareous algae and benthic foraminifera are deposited on a shallow marine fringing reefal platform which becomes progressively a nearshore backreef around 3675 215 y cal bp and later around 3138 223 y cal bp a reef ramp b since 3040 220 y cal bp the borehole area obtains the characteristics of a high energy beach that receives increasing inputs of terrigenous material c subsequently a supratidal backshore setting is established influenced mostly by terrestrial processes and occasionally by marine processes as it is indicated by the decreasing and sometimes sporadic presence of benthic foraminifera and recently a sedimentary veneer consisting of terrigenous carbonate and evaporite material is formed by terrestrial mainly wadi and aeolian processes

island edifice failures and associated tsunami hazards volcanic ocean islands are prone to structural failure of the edifice that result in landslides that can generate destructive tsunamis these island landslides range enormously in size varying from small rock falls to giant sector failures involving tens of cubic kilometers of debris a survey of literature has allowed us to identify twenty three processes that contribute to edifice collapse these have been divided into endogenetic and exogenetic sources of edifice failure endogenetic sources of instability and failure include unstable foundations volcanic intrusions thermal alteration edifice pore pressures unbuttressed structures and buried faults exogenetic sources of instability and failure include collapse of subaerial or submarine deposits endo upwelling karst megaporosity fractures oversteepening overloading sea level change marine erosion weathering including hurricanes glacial response volcanic activity regional uplift or subsidence tectonic seismicity and anthropogenic agents while the endogenetic sources dominate during periods of active volcanism and cone building the exogenetic sources may cause failure at any time tsunamis both small and large are associated with these edifice failures

paleoenvironmental evolution and prehistoric human environment in the embayment of palamari skyros island greece during middle late holocene abstract palamari bay is located on the northeastern coast of skyros island sporades islands aegean sea at the northern edge of the bay a fortified prehistoric settlement is found dated between 2800 and 1700 bc early bronze age ii middle bronze age i detailed geomorphological mapping of the coastal alluvial plain and paleontological micropaleontological palynological sedimentological and micromorphological studies of the holocene coastal deposits have been conducted in order to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment and the landscape evolution of the broader area of palamari bay three main sedimentary units were recognized a b and c from oldest to youngest the lowermost sedimentary unit a deposited between before 7500 and 3500 cal bp consists of sediment deposited from high to moderate energy fresh water flows with some suspended load fallout in established water bodies the microfauna indicates a shallow fresh water environment however a tendency to oligohaline conditions was established gradually during the same period the palamari area was characterized by open mixed deciduous forests that gradually retreated as a possible consequence of the intensification of anthropic activity associated with the settlement of palamari indications of cultivating and grazing activities in the vicinity of the lagoon were identified pointing to a strong human presence since the neolithic between about 6000 and 3500 cal bp the embayment was a lagoon southeasterly connected to the sea therefore sheltered and protected from northeastern winds the overlying unit b ca 3500 800 cal bp is characterized by the dominance of brackish water microfauna indicating a brackish stagnant shallow water depositional environment which was periodically supplied with fresh water from the surrounding springs as the result of the continuous sea level rise during the late holocene part of the northern headland was submerged the decline of the palamari settlement at the time of the establishment of unit b might be related to the observed changes that rendered the embayment a restricted body of water the uppermost sedimentary unit c corresponds to a backshore environment dominated by aeolian activity modified by fluvial processes

catastrophic wave erosion on the southeastern coast of australia impact of the lanai tsunamis ca 105 ka sand barriers along the coast of southern new south wales dating from the last interglacial have been almost completely destroyed most probably by a catastrophic tsunami evidence for catastrophic wave erosion can also be traced to heights of at least 15 m above present sea level on coastal abrasion ramps these erosional features lie above the range of effective erosion by contemporary storm waves and cannot be attributed to either eustatic fluctuations or local uplift chronological evidence for the timing of the destruction of the last interglacial barriers suggests that tsunamis generated by the submarine slide off lanai in the hawaiian islands 105 ka traveled across the pacific and eroded this coast

contribution of saharan dust to mediterranean soils assessed by sequential extraction and pb and sr isotopes abstract measurements of the concentrations and isotopic composition of pb and sr in al silicates and fe oxides of two soil profiles developed in the guadalquivir river basin andalusia southwestern spain are used in order to estimate the significance of local versus foreign sources lead concentrations are 10 6 mg kg in deep more than 100 cm soil samples and reach 30 60 mg kg near the surface 206 pb 207 pb values range from 1 200 to 1 206 in deep samples and from 1 186 to 1 191 in the upper most samples sr concentrations range from 30 to 69 mg kg showing no systematic trend with depth 87 sr 86 sr ratios range from 0 71753 to 0 72526 also with no systematic changes with depth in the fe oxide fraction but with a systematic increase in values with depth in the al silicate fraction of one of the soil profiles in all the samples the isotopic composition of pb in the al si fraction is slightly more radiogenic than its value in the fe oxide fraction the isotopic composition of sr exhibits the opposite behavior and 87 sr 86 sr values in the fe oxide fraction are always higher than in the al silicate fraction based on our data we calculate that al silicates in the fine soil fraction less than 5 m in both sites contain 33 86 of saharan dust and that the fe oxides contain less saharan dust and more material released by the weathering of basement granitoid type rocks in the case of pb a third source is present in the upper part of the soil i e anthropogenic pb probably added to the soil over millennia the results of the present study suggest that saharan dust makes up a significant fraction in al silicates and fe oxides of mediterranean soils but that local sources both natural rock derived and anthropogenic are not trivial

aeolian dust transport and deposition over crete and adjacent parts of the mediterranean sea monitoring of dust deposition at several stations on crete over a three year period has shown that the present day depositional flux is of the order of 10 100 gm 2 yr 1 most of the dust deposition takes place during a few annual dust events which typically last for 1 3 days dust haze episodes are usually associated with southerly or southwesterly winds which transport fine sediment from north africa dust is raised by a wide variety of meteorological conditions which generate strong near surface winds in the source areas but major long range transport events are often associated with cold fronts linked to the passage of deep mid latitude depressions during winter and spring dust haze frequency and deposition rates are highest in western crete and decrease towards the east suggesting that transport from tunisia and neighbouring parts of north africa is particularly important the measured rate of dust deposition is well below the minimum level required for loess formation deposits which have previously been identified as loess are shown to be uncemented marine marls of tertiary age laboratory analysis of red soils surface sediments and bedrock samples has confirmed that many of the soils contain an important aeolian dust component but it is concluded that a more important source of soil parent material is provided by weathering of local rocks many of the soils contain significant amounts of quartz sand which cannot have been transported across the sea from north africa reworking of weathered material and deposited dust is extensive and is accomplished by both aeolian and fluvial processes tectonically controlled depressions in the mountains and parts of the coastal lowlands have acted as long term sinks in which a thickness of several metres of sediment and soil has accumulated during the quaternary

sedimentation and hydrodynamic processes associated with the tsunami generated by the 1755 lisbon earthquake abstract an unusual sedimentary horizon believed to have been deposited by the tsunami associated with the 1755 lisbon earthquake has been identified at boca do rio in southern portugal this horizon marks a distinct sedimentological and micropalaeontological break from the deposits enclosing it the sedimentary characteristics of the horizon which consists of several distinct sub units vary greatly in both vertical and horizontal section detailed textural analysis through vertical sections of these sub units shows abrupt changes in particle size characteristics the highly variable nature of the horizon appears to be due to rapid variation in the hydrodynamic characteristics of the depositional event the lowermost section of the deposit appears to have been deposited from a highly turbulent water mass which was able to transport gravel sized clasts as well as gravel sized mud balls eroded from underlying material the water mass rapidly lost energy leading to the deposition of predominantly sand silt and clay particles sharp breaks in textural characteristics are likely to be due to changes in current direction caused by wave reflection or swash backwash interference the main sources of sand sized material within the deposit are the seaward barrier beach foredune system the tsunami deposit at boca do rio shares many of the sedimentary characteristics of tsunami deposits from other sites around the world

natural and human induced environmental changes preserved in a holocene sediment sequence from the etoliko lagoon greece new evidence from geochemical proxies abstract a key feature of greece is the large amount of historical and archaeological records the sedimentary record of the etoliko lagoon aetolia western greece offers an ideal opportunity to study human environment interaction and to disentangle natural and anthropogenic imprints in the sedimentary record by applying an interdisciplinary approach of combining geoscientific methods xrf loi grain size analysis with archaeological and historical records the 8 8 m long sedimentary sequence eto1c reveals the palaeoenvironmental history of the lagoon and its catchment since 11 670 cal bp with a thorough chronology based on 14 c age depth modelling including varve counting different evolutionary stages were put in a chronological context these stages include a lake period 11 670 8310 cal bp followed by a period of sporadic saltwater intrusion 8310 1350 cal bp as a result of continuing transgression phases of limnic predominance associated with freshwater inflow of episodically activated distributaries around 5230 cal bp still occurred by 1350 cal bp ongoing sea level rise had connected the lagoons of etoliko and messolonghi and freshwater influence had ceased with the onset of settlement activity in the late helladic 1700 1100 cal bc humans took advantage of the prevailing environmental landscape a sudden increase in coarse sedimentation correlates with the history of human occupation with its peak of prosperity from the late helladic until the end of the hellenistic period 30 cal bc

the socio environmental history of the peloponnese during the holocene towards an integrated understanding of the past published archaeological palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic data from the peloponnese in greece are compiled discussed and evaluated in order to analyse the interactions between humans and the environment over the last 9000 years our study indicates that the number of human settlements found scattered over the peninsula have quadrupled from the prehistoric to historical periods and that this evolution occurred over periods of climate change and seismo tectonic activity we show that societal development occurs both during periods of harsh as well as favourable climatic conditions at some times some settlements develop while others decline well known climate events such as the 4 2 ka and 3 2 ka events are recognizable in some of the palaeoclimatic records and a regional decline in the number and sizes of settlements occurs roughly at the same time but their precise chronological fit with the archaeological record remains uncertain local socio political processes were probably always the key drivers behind the diverse strategies that human societies took in times of changing climate the study thus reveals considerable chronological parallels between societal development and palaeoenvironmental records but also demonstrates the ambiguities in these correspondences and in doing so highlights some of the challenges that will face future interdisciplinary projects we suggest that there can be no general association made between societal expansion phases and periods of advantageous climate we also propose that the relevance of climatic and environmental regionality as well as any potential impacts of seismo tectonics on societal development need to be part of the interpretative frameworks

linking tsunami deposits submarine slides and offshore earthquakes abstract the recognition that many tsunamis are associated with coastal sedimentation has been of great value in the study of tsunamis prehistorically geological investigation of such sediments has resulted in the identification of a series of palaeotsunamis that appear to have taken place in different areas of the world in most cases however it has proved difficult to link former tsunamis to specific source mechanisms studies of modern tsunamis have also faced difficulties in the recognition of the specific source mechanisms for example offshore earthquakes may trigger submarine slides that combine to produce complex patterns of tsunami flooding at the coast

multidisciplinary characterization of the middle holocene eolian deposits of the elsa river basin central italy abstract in temperate regions eolian deposits of different natures are often pedogenically altered and mixed with underlying sediments the research reported in this paper identifies for the first time the presence of eolian deposits in soils of central tuscany and investigates the characteristics and origin five relict polycyclic paleosol profiles were studied p1 was situated in a natural dust trap a doline on top of an isolated limestone hill p2 and p3 were both situated on a limestone plateau and p4 and p5 on a mid and foot slope on schist the profiles were sampled for routine analyses iron forms heavy minerals major and trace elements and pollen spores and non pollen palynomorphs undisturbed samples were taken for micromorphological and sem analyses nine soil horizons were sampled for osl dating eolian deposits were dominant or abundant in the first layers of p1 p2 and p3 osl age determinations of soil horizons deriving from eolian parent material were middle holocene chemical and heavy mineral analyses indicated different possible sources including bare slopes alluvial fans and wide channels coming from the nearby streams that drain the middle tuscany ridge and the mounts of chianti marginal contribution of volcanic ashes was only found in p1 the research demonstrated that wind soil erosion accompanied water erosion and colluvial deposition during the middle holocene in the elsa river basin pollen spectra in particular indicated that soil degradation occurred in an environment showing signs of incipient desertification resulting from an increase of aridity in a land already strongly influenced by humans although central italy is currently considered to be only marginally affected by wind soil erosion a climate change which would imply increased arid conditions could trigger a new cycle of slope denudation wind erosion and loess deposition

tektite bearing deep water clastic unit at the cretaceous tertiary boundary in northeastern mexico the hypothesis of cretaceous tertiary k t boundary impact on yucatan mexico predicts that nearby sites should show evidence of proximal impact ejecta and disturbance by giant waves an outcrop along the arroyo el mimbral in northeastern mexico contains a layered clastic unit up to 3 m thick that interrupts a biostratigraphically complete pelagic marl sequence deposited at more than 400 m water depth the marls were found to be unsuitable for determining magnetostratigraphy but foraminiferal biostratigraphy places the clastic unit precisely at the k t boundary we interpret this clastic unit as the deposit of a megawave or tsunami produced by an extraterrestrial impact the elastic unit comprises three main subunits 1 the basal spherule bed contains glass in the form of tektites and microtektites glass spherules replaced by chlorite smectite and calcite and quartz grains showing probable shock features this bed is interpreted as a channelized deposit of proximal ejects 2 a set of lenticular massive graded laminated beds contains intraclasts and abundant plant debris and may be the result of megawave backwash that carried coarse debris from shallow parts of the continental margin into deeper water 3 at the top several thin ripple beds composed of fine sand are separated by clay drapes they are interpreted as deposits of oscillating currents perhaps a seiche an iridium anomaly 921 23 pg g is observed at the top of the ripple beds our observations at the mimbral locality support the hypothesis of a k t impact on nearby yucatan

late glacial and holocene aeolian deposits and geomorphological features near roccaraso abruzzo central italy abstract aeolian deposits and geomorphological features due to wind erosion have been recorded in the aremogna plain near roccaraso central apennines at this site three different aeolian deposits can be distinguished 1 silty loess deposits composed mainly of quartz 2 aeolian sand deriving from the reworking of tephra which lies on a peat level dated to 12 850 200 bp and 3 aeolian silt coming from the deflation of the deposits 2 which is associated to deflation geomorphological features in part still active the onset of these processes is more recent than 4690 200 bp the first and the second aeolian deposits are related to cold and dry phases of the late glacial period the third set of aeolian deposits and deflation features corresponds to wind erosion on a denudated landscape as a consequence of a dry climatic phase the effect of which was amplified by winter freezing thawing activity

late holocene coastal depositional environments and climate changes in the gulf of corinth greece multidisciplinary studies in coastal systems of the eastern mediterranean region have proven to be excellent tools in understanding paleoenvironmental paleoecological and paleoclimatic changes th

palaeoenvironmental evolution and sea level changes in the coastal area of ne lemnos island greece during the holocene abstract the study area is located on the northeastern coast of lemnos island north aegean sea 40 2 30 n 25 00 00 e it covers the archaeological settlement of hephestia located in the purnia gulf and the coastal area of alyki lagoon reconstruction of the palaeogeography used palaeoenvironment data delivered from foraminifera and sea level changes providing archeological data about the presence of a potential harbour in the area geomorphological mapping as well as sedimentological and micropalaeontological studies of the holocene coastal deposits were conducted four boreholes were drilled from the alyki lagoon reaching 2 5 m to 11 m at the deepest and two from hephestia area reaching a depth of 6 m twenty four samples were dated using the ams radiocarbon method providing a chronology of the sedimentary units the calculated age from the boreholes provides dates from 7050 cal bp to 990 cal bp there was a constant sea level rise during the last 7000 cal bp in the study area results from the model of lambeck sea level curve and sea level index point from hephestia and alyki show a vertical difference of 0 5 1 5 m below sea level the foraminiferal fauna analysis shows the development of shallow marine conditions with fresh water influx during 7000 4000 cal bp and a temporary lagoon environment with fluctuations to shallow bay environment from 4000 to 990 cal bp

foraminiferal biodiversity and holocene evolution of the phetchaburi coastal area thailand gulf abstract twenty three surface sediments were collected in may 2002 in the phetchaburi coastal area thailand gulf starting from the outer margin of the vegetated zone to a depth of about 20 m covering an area of about 800 km 2 one core was taken in the north eastern area of the mae khlong delta plain to investigate the recent paleoenvironmental evolution of this zone thirteen core levels were collected for micropaleontological foraminifers investigation this highly populated area is characterized by the inflow of the mae khlong the second major river in thailand and the khlong ban labun river empty tests pertaining to the thanathocoenosis are dominant and as for the few living specimens are most frequently represented by ammonia spp the collected species are typically of brackish water settings foraminiferal diversity is rather low and increases from the northern part to the central southern part of the studied area where taxa typical of the indo pacific realm such as miliolids and schackoinella globosa are more abundant than the cosmopolitan species such as ammonia tepida and gaudryina exilis the geographic distribution of the four foraminiferal assemblages defined on the basis of the cluster analysis indicates that the northern sector is affected by severe environmental conditions since this area is affected by the mae khlong river input the salinity fluctuation is probably a controlling factor on the foraminifers distribution ammonia tepida a inflata murrayinella murrayi and miliolinella sp 1 are the most opportunistic species able to tolerate wide environmental variability as regards to the holocene data the study carried out on the core located on the mae khlong delta plain indicates that the tidal flat paleoenvironment has been subject to different fresh water influence with a general prograding trend