Coastal cliff retreat rates at Beit‐Yannay,Israel, in the 20th century

Research indicates that the aeolianite (Kurkar) cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline have continuously retreated eastward during the last few decades. There seems to be no dispute among Earth scientists regarding the general trend of cliff retreat. However the majority of papers displaying cliff retreat rates are based upon comparison of aerial photographs. Their lack of advanced geometric measurement methods causes a high margin of error. Public attention is focused upon the Beit‐Yannay coastal cliff since private homes are located along the southern section of the cliff crest. The current research compares the historic location of the cliff crest edge at Beit‐Yannay as observed in a series of aerial photographs taken during the period 1918–2000. Quantitative measurement methods included applications of satellite geodesy and digital photogrammetry and mapping. Research results offer quantitative, consecutive and highly accurate data regarding retreat rates over a relatively long period of 82 years. It is concluded that: 1. Annual average cliff retreat rates of the cliff crest is 20 cm/year. 2. Categorization of the study time span reveals periods displaying varying retreat rates such as 27 cm/year during 1918–1946, 21 cm/year during 1946–1973 and 10 cm/year during 1973–2000. 3. Maximum retreat distances of the cliff crest, over the study period were found to be approximately 25 m along the northern, lowest section of the cliff. Minimum distances of 11 m were identi?ed at the highest, southern section of the cliff. 4. The eolianite (Kurkar) cliffs along the Israeli Mediterranean coast throughout the 20th century have been an important source of sediment, contributing approximately 24 × 10⁶ m³ of sediments to the sediment balance of Israeli beaches. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fracture interaction in the Gregory Rift, East Africa

Vertical fracture is important, and fracture interaction is quite intensive in the Central Gregory Rift. Crack-branching and non-coplanar crack interactions in the rift are characterized for major and minor faults. These two manifestations follow theoretical and experimental angular relationships of fracture reasonably well. Mantle diapirism seems to have been responsible for both tensile (probably unstable) fracture, and block tilting, ultimately resulting in fault dips deviating from the vertical.     

Two centuries of coastal change at Caesarea,Israel: natural processes vs. human intervention

The coast at Caesarea, Israel, has been inhabited almost continuously for the last 2,400 years, and the archeological sites are today a major international tourist attraction. Because the sites straddle the shoreline, they are subject to constant damage by wave action, and must therefore be frequently restored. In this paper, local shoreline migrations over the last 200 years are investigated with the aim of distinguishing between natural and man-made coastal changes. In order to assess these changes accurately, geomorphological and sedimentological data were examined based on detailed beach profile measurements, bathymetric surveys, and grain-size analyses. In addition, series of old aerial photographs, as well as historical topographic maps and nautical charts were consulted. The results show that shoreline changes can be grouped into two main time periods. During the first period from 1862 to 1949 before the expansion of modern settlements, the position of the shoreline changed irregularly by up to 30 m. In the second period from 1949 onward, numerous coastal structures have been erected, and various coastal modifications have been carried out. The evaluation of the data suggests that human interventions have had relatively little effect on the overall position of the shoreline, as displacements ranged only from 5 to 18 m. Thus, coastal changes at Caesarea are predominantly due to natural wave action reflected in the heterogeneous geomorphological and sedimentological characteristics of the shore. This contradicts the common assumption that human activities are always mainly responsible for large-scale shoreline modifications in the region. It is concluded that, in order to implement meaningful mitigating countermeasures, coastal archeological sites need to be individually assessed with respect to the dominant factors causing local coastal change.     

Perspectives on biogeomorphology, ecosystem engineering and self-organisation in island-braided fluvial ecosystems

Using the River Tagliamento, Italy, as an example, we examine the role of self-organisation in the formation and dynamics of vegetated islands in fluvial ecosystems. We consider how various biogeomorphic processes, such as feedbacks between tree growth and sedimentation, influence island self-assembly, as well as the potential influences of island landforms on resource distribution and shifts in ecosystem state. Despite the abundance of island landforms of different sizes and ages in island-braided reaches along the River Tagliamento, island formation is only found within a specific hydrological and sedimentary envelope, and depends upon a delicate balance of biotic-abiotic feedbacks. As a result, island landforms tend to be lost when river functioning is altered by human interventions. We argue that the specific biogeomorphic processes and self-organisation associated with river island dynamics offer an example of biogeomorphic inheritance, in which reciprocal feedbacks between species and geomorphic processes favour engineer species and promote the future development of the landforms. Thus, islands represent extended phenotypes – or external expressions of genetic traits – of key riparian ecosystem engineers. This capacity to modify the physical environment has important implications for landform evolution and riparian biodiversity. In conclusion, we propose several topics that merit investigation to improve our understanding of the biogeomorphology and self-organisation of river island systems.     

Monitoring and reconstructing past biogeomorphic succession within fluvial corridors using stereophotogrammetry

Past fluvial biogeomorphic succession dynamics, i.e. reciprocal interactions and adjustments between vegetation growth and fluvial landform construction, were monitored and reconstructed using stereophotogrammetry. The four‐dimensional spatio‐temporal stereophotogrammetric analyses were based on the use of archival analogue and digital aerial photographs. First, we tested the relevance of the technique to produce floodplain digital terrain models (DTMs) and cover height models (CHMs) of the dynamic River Allier, France, and compared the models derived from photogrammetric procedures to field measurements for CHMs and to LiDAR data for DTMs. Automatic photogrammetric procedures tended to create inaccurate digital models with production of outliers, incomplete sectors and areas of confusion especially for analogue stereo‐pairs. Expert correction using stereoscopic viewing improved the vertical accuracy of the digital models, but the vegetation height tended to be underestimated: approximately 0.50 m for vegetation heights less than 10 m, up to 1.50 m for tree heights higher than 25 m. Second, we applied this method to a wooded point bar located on the channelized River Garonne, France. At the scale of the point bar, accurate biogeomorphic maps that show terrain and vegetation height changes in all three spatial dimensions were produced and accurate vegetation growth curves from the early stages of establishment until maturity were extracted. Assuming that a set of conditions is satisfied (e.g. spatial scale of investigation, quality of the photographs), our results show that the photogrammetric method applied in this research can be used operationally to detect and quantify present fluvial biogeomorphic dynamics (i.e. changes of topography and vegetation canopy height) within fluvial corridors of temperate rivers with satisfactory accuracy. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Populus nigra L. establishment and fluvial landform construction: biogeomorphic dynamics within a channelized river

Populations of the riparian pioneer species Populus nigra L. which establish on alluvial bars within river channels modulate sediment dynamics and fluvial landforms. Dense cohorts of P. nigra have colonized gravel point bars along the channelized River Garonne, France, during the last 20 years and have enhanced the vertical, lateral and longitudinal development of the bars. For this period, the geomorphic characteristics of two wooded point bars on this laterally stable river are closely linked to the spatial distribution and intensity of establishment and resistance of different cohorts of P. nigra. Furthermore, P. nigra colonization dynamics were controlled by engineer effects of this same species. This relationship is illustrated by a significant correlation between key geomorphic and biological variables measured in situ and characterized with a set of four aerial photographs taken between 2000 and 2010. The development of wooded point bars, which are discrete biogeomorphic units, over the studied period, appear to result from a specific biogeomorphic positive feedback of matter aggregation and vegetation establishment related to sediment trapping and stabilization by pioneer engineer plants. We propose a conceptual model of biogeomorphic unit construction for channelized, lateral stable rivers. We consider the resultant biogeomorphic units as functional from an ecological point of view because P. nigra enhances at the cohort scale (i) its own inherent capacity to resist hydrogeomorphic disturbances, and (ii) its resilience capacity as a result of successful colonization, especially downstream of mature poplar stands. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low-angle faults above and below a blueschist belt—Tinos Island, Cyclades, Greece

New observations from the Island of Tinos, Greece, allow a better definition of the structural position of the Alpine (Eocene) blueschist belt exposed in the islands of the Aegean Sea. These blueschists, over a significant part of the Aegean sea, are delimited from below by a low-angle thrust fault, while from above they are delimited by a low-angle, normal-type fault which omits a substantial crustal interval. Both underlying and overlying rocks were not affected by the high? metamorphism. The rapid uplift and exhumation of the high? rocks was therefore mainly the result of fault movements rather than erosion and whole-crust uplifting. The low-angle normal fault apparently had a major role in the uplift of the blueschists.     

The Effect of Atmospheric Organic Compounds on the Fe-Catalyzed S(IV) Autoxidation in Aqueous Solution

Laboratory experiments were conducted with real atmospheric aerosol particles as well as with synthetic solutions under dark conditions, to simulate some of the chemical features of aerosols. In solutions obtained by the leaching of aerosols (size range >D _ae: 0.4–1.6 m) that contained sufficient amounts of transition metal ions (e.g. Fe) and organic species (e.g. oxalate), S(IV) oxidation rates were significantly lower than those expected from the Fe-catalyzed S(IV) autoxidation in Milli-Q water. The results suggest that oxalate is responsible for much of the observed inhibition. Acetate and formate also inhibit the reaction, but to a much lesser extent. Oxalate has a strong inhibiting effect on the Fe-catalyzed S(IV) autoxidation at all investigated pH values (2.8, 3.7 and 4.5). It was established that Fe(III)-oxalato complexes affect the redox cycling of Fe(II)/Fe(III) and that the observed decrease of the reaction rate is caused by the reduced amount of catalytically active Fe(III) due to the complexation with oxalate. For the system Fe-S(IV)-O₂-oxalate at initial pH 3.7 the reaction rate was calculated using exponential simplification to account for oxalate influence on the amount of free Fe(III) by the following equation:–r_S(IV) = k · [S(IV)] · [Fe(III))] · e ^-b·[Ox]     

Relative fracture velocities based on fundamental characteristics of joint‐surface morphology

Two different joint surface morphologies, plumes and rib marks, characterize joint surfaces, but the mechanical conditions that lead to the formation of either of the morphologies are not understood well. We studied two orthogonal joint sets that cut the same Santonian chalk beds in the Judea Desert, Israel. Joints of the J₁ set are systematic, relatively long, characterized by almost exclusively by plumes and predate the shorter, non‐systematic joints of the J₂ set that are characterized by rib marks. Joints of the J₁ set formed at high stress during deformation of the Syrian Arc folding in the Late Senonian. Joints of the J₂ set formed at lower stress that occurred because of stress relaxation after the formation of the J₁ joints. A mechanical analysis indicates that the J₁ joints propagated at subcritical velocities several orders of magnitude faster than the J₂ joints. Based on previously published data of laboratory tests, the plumes and the rib marks are semi‐quantitatively placed on the subcritical part of the fracture velocity vs. stress‐intensity factor diagram.     

New insights into peri-Gondwana paleogeography and the Gondwana super-fan system from detrital zircon U–Pb ages

We present a synopsis of detrital zircon U–Pb ages of sandstones from North Africa and neighboring Israel and Jordan, which allows us to identify zones with characteristic sediment provenance along the northern Gondwana margin (in present-day coordinates) in Cambrian–Ordovician times, and helps us to unravel the peri-Gondwana jigsaw puzzle. A special feature of the early Paleozoic cover sequence of North Africa is the eastward increase of 1.1–0.95 Ga detrital zircons, which become ubiquitous in the early Paleozoic sandstones of the Saharan Metacraton. Detrital zircons aged about 2.7–2.5, 2.15–1.75 and 0.75–0.53 Ga are also present. Early Paleozoic sandstones with similar provenance are known from peri-Gondwana terranes in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean and from NW Iberia. These terranes need not be transported from western Gondwana (Amazonia) as suggested previously. They were likely located to the north of the Saharan Metacraton during the early Paleozoic before they rifted off from Gondwana. Furthermore, we recognize an increase, as stratigraphic ages get younger, of ca. 1.0 Ga detrital zircons at some point between the Late Cambrian and late Middle Ordovician. We speculate that this might be linked to far-field tectonics and regional uplift in central Gondwana related to plate-tectonic reorganization along the Gondwana margin, leading to erosion of ca. 1.0 Ga basement and country rocks of the Transgondwanan supermountain and fluvial dispersal of detritus toward the Gondwana margin.