2021
October 2021 | Dr. Ilaria Mazzini visits the lab for a scientific cooperation
Dr. Ilaria Mazzini from the Italian National Research Council visits our lab for a scientific cooperation on a project carried out as part of Parth Shah PhD thesis. The aim of the visit is to learn about the potential of ostracods record in the lakes Parth is studying for paleoenvironmental reconstruction in light of climate variability in the southern Arabian peninsula for the last ~1500 years.
Thanks Ilaria for the visit and it has been a pleasure to host you! A new area of research has been opened to us and we are looking forwards for the forthcoming publications!
October 2021 | Ms. Sonja Rigterink will join our lab for a year as part of her PhD research!
Sonja Rigterink from the Technische Universität Braunschweig, in Germany, will join the PetroLab team with a "SANDWICH program" scholarship from the University of Haifa. Her research work will focus on paleoecological reconstruction using chironomids from Lake Hula and the archeological site of Schöningen in Germany. These two contrasting environments have the potential to hold clues concerning the environmental conditions in which early hominid groups evolved and migrated (i.e. Homo heidelbergensis in Germany and Homo erectus in the Levant).
Looking forwards for exciting results!
October 2021 | Petrolabers in the team excavating at the 'Ubeidiya site!
The site of ‘Ubeidiya is located in the Jordan Valley, Israel and has been biochronologically dated to 1.2-1.6 Ma. It exhibits large lithic and faunal assemblages, including of early hominins. Large mammalian fauna indicate a Mediterranean biome, with few African taxa pointing to a savanna habitat. A lower incisor found in situ has been identified as Homo cf. erectus/ergaster. Taphonomic analyses of the faunal assemblages suggest that evidence for hunting is rare and that the majority of bone were accumulated by scavenging. The formation is divided into four members from lowest to upper: LI, FI, LU, and FU were respectively deposited in a limnic, deltaic, limnic, and fluviatile environments. The new excavations will hopefully elucidate the environmental setting in the Levant corridor during the passage of early hominins in the region. The project is leaded by Dr. Omry Barzilai (IAA) and Dr. Miriam Belmaker (University of Tulsa).
September 2021 | Two new postdoc research associated at PetroLab!
Dr. Chrissy Hall (from the USA) and Dr. Emmanuel Guillerm (from France) just joined PetroLab with exiting new projects! Chrissy is going to work on past environmental reconstruction in the Pliocene Erl el Ahmar Formation utilizing ostracods, while Manu is developing a new record of past hydrological variaiblity in the Dead Sea out from fluid inclusions in halite minerals. Chrissy holds a Mortimer Zuckermann fellowship and Manu an Azrieli fellowship.
We are looking forwards for exciting results from both Chrissy and Manu!
August 2021 | New paper in Natural Resources Research!
Dr. Mimonitu Opuwari, from the University of Western Cape and a colleague of us at PetroLab, just published a new paper in the Natural Resources Research! The overarching aim of the study is to use core measurements of porosity and permeability in three wells to generate a scheme of sandstone reservoir zonation for identification of flow units in the E-M gas field of the Western Bredasdorp Basin, offshore South Africa. The evaluation method began by establishing rock types within a geological framework that allowed the definition of five facies. The results of independent reservoir classification methods were integrated to identify flow zones that yielded positive results. Twelve flow zones were identified and were broadly classified as high, moderate, low, very low, and tight zones. The results obtained from this study will serve as an input parameter for reservoir studies in the western Bredasdorp Basin.
July 2021 | Three of our students got scholarships!
Three MSc students from our lab, Olajide, John and Avinesh, got a special scholarship based on excellent progress in their scientific projects by the Department of Marine Geosciences! The competitive scholarship was awarded based on their high grades and outstanding research.
Congrats to our students and we all hope to have more good news in the near future!
June 2021 | New paper in Geophysical Research Letter!
Yin Lu (a former postdoc from the group and currently at the University of Innsbruck in Austria) led a paper dealing with lake level fluctuations in the Dead Sea. Some researchers propose that lowering sea-level leads to mass failures, while, others suggest that raising sea-level induces mass failures. In contrast, other researchers conclude that no clear correlation exists between mass failures and sea-level change as the ages of failure events are random. This dispute is due largely to the lack of comprehensive records of mass failures in the geologic record for which ages, triggers, and preconditioning factors can be reliably constrained, thus preventing cause-and-effect relationships to be tested. We present a record of mass failures from the Dead Sea over the last 220 kyr. The high-resolution dating, combined with well-constrained preconditioning factors, makes this a unique archive for testing different hypotheses. Our analysis indicates that mass failures are frequent during lake-level high-stands with large-amplitude fluctuations at orbital- and millennial-scales. Furthermore, the paper shows that deposition rate is not a preconditioning factor for mass failures under seismic shaking at both the orbital- and millennial-scales.
Congrats Yin!
May 2021 | Fieldwork in the Jordan Valley!
Here we go again! After half a year of waiting, we went down to the Jordan Valley to retrieve another core sequence of the Erk el Ahmar Formation (~3.5 Ma). We succeeded in retrieving a 25 m long continuous core sequence! The cores sections will be analyzed in the next few months for obtaining physical, chemical and biological proxies of climate variability during this intriguing and mostly unknown period in the Levantine climate history. The work forms part of the research projects of John Greenlee and Dr. Silas Dean.
May 2021 | A new publication in Frontiers in Earth Sciences!
We are extremely happy of our new publication in Frontiers in Earth Sciences! The paper amalgamates in a novel fashion and at an unprecedented detail in-situ historic measurements, geological data and numerical modeling of a rock fall event and associated tsunami wave that occurred in Lake Lovatnet (western Norway) in September 1936. Historical records report an event that released ca. 1 million m3 of rocks and debris from Ramnefjellet Mountain at an altitude of 800 m above Lake Lovatnet. The fragmented material plunged into the lake, causing a tsunami that reached a maximum run-up of 74 m and killed 74 people. In fact, the settlements of Bødal and Nesdal were wiped out as a result of the catastrophic wave. Sediments resulting from the 1936 rock fall and associated tsunami were identified in the subsurface of Lake Lovatnet by shallow geophysical investigations and were retrieved using gravity coring equipment. A set of high resolution physical and geochemical measurements were carried out on the cores with the aim of reproducing a highly detailed reconstruction of this catastrophic event in order to better understand and learn about the processes involved. The cores were retrieved in the northwestern sub-basin of the lake and its chronology was constrained by 210Pb and radiocarbon dating. A specially tailored physically based mathematical model was applied to better understand the tsunami event. Integration of the geophysical record, the sedimentological data and numerical modeling provide a comprehensive background to better understand the effects of such event in a deep fjord-like lacustrine basin and to generate information for better mitigation of similar events elsewhere.
April 2021 | PetroLabers conquered the EGU!
Three of our lab members (John Greenlee, Parth Shah and Ahmad Matturdi) presented in different sessions of the European Geophysical Union annual meeting. This time the meeting was online due to the continuous corona pandemic. The sessions however, were attended by many people and several discussions developed following their presentations. John presented his MSc results so far (dealing with the Erk el Ahmar Formation), Parth showed his latest results (already wrapped up and soon to be submitted to publication) and Ahmad presented the results from his first paper submitted these days.
Congrats to all the students!
April 2021 | A new publication on Geophysical Research Letters !
Seismogenic turbidites are widely used for geohazard assessment. The use of turbidites as an earthquake indicator requires a clear demonstration that an earthquake, rather than non‐seismic factors, is the most plausible trigger. The seismic origin is normally verified either by correlating the turbidites to historic earthquakes, or by demonstrating their synchronous deposition in widely spaced, isolated depocenters. The correlated historic earthquakes could thus constrain the seismic intensities necessary for triggering turbidites. However, the historic correlation method is not applicable to prehistoric turbidites. In addition, the synchronous deposition of turbidites cannot be verified if only one deep core is drilled in a depocenter. In the current new paper, we propose a new approach to constrain the seismic origin for prehistoric turbidites in a deep core from the Dead Sea center. Moreover, we constrain the seismic intensities that triggered prehistoric turbidites by analyzing the degree of in situ deformation underlying each turbidite. In addition, we use our results to propose seven basic earthquake‐related depositional scenarios preserved in depocenters located in tectonically active regions like the Dead Sea. These techniques and findings permit a more confident geohazard assessment in the region and other similar tectonic settings by improving the completeness of a paleoseismic archive.
Congrats Dr. Yin Lu!
April 2021 | A new publication on Arabian Journal of Geosciences!
A new paper was accepted in Arabian Journal of Geosciences! The paper entitled "The role of detrital components in the petrophysical parameters of Paleogene calcareous-dominated hemiplegic deposits" deals in understanding the role of detrital components in influencing the petrophysical parameters of predominantly calcareous rocks from the Eocene in Israel. In the current paper, we show how the porous space of this sedimentary unit is strongly influenced by the amount of clays, which in turn controls reservoir quality. The sedimentary record studied in this project consists of a 340 m long core of primarily Eocene carbonate sediments from southern Israel that has been made available for conducting high resolution petrophysical analyses. The sedimentary record includes three stratigraphical units (units 1 to 3) based on variations in the lithology and associated petrophysical properties (density, magnetic susceptibility and sonic velocity). Our study suggests that the temporal variability in the allogenic component of the predominantly carbonate sequence points to a climate modulator rather than tectonic.
Congrats Dr. Mimonitu Opuwari!
March 2021 | A field course to northern Israel (despite the corona!): From the Tethys to the Mediterranean
Following a year of delays and lock downs, we were able to conduct a three days field trip to northern Israel! The course, entitled From the Tethys to the Mediterranean, passes through the geological history of the region since the Jurassic till the present. We visited fantastic Jurassic outcrops in the Golan heights, passed through Lower Cretaceous sandstones, when the Tethys Ocean retreated in the region and the area was exposed to erosion. On the following day we toured in the upper Galilee for the whole day, going through the Cretaceous time scale and visiting exceptional sites. The last day was dedicated to the closure of the Tethys Ocean (from both east and west), coming down to the Mediterranean and finishing back in Haifa. We are already looking forwards for next year's field trip!
February 2021 | A new publication with petrolab members is out in Solid Earth!
A new paper was accepted in Solid Earth! The paper presents a detailed description and evaluation of a multi-methodological petrophysical approach for the comprehensive multiscale characterization of reservoir sandstones. The proposed multi-methodological approach presented in the paper leads to an accurate petrophysical characterization of reservoir sandstones with broad ranges of textural, topological and mineralogical characteristics and is particularly applicable for describing anisotropy at various rock scales. The results of this study provide insights into the geological interpretation of stratigraphic units of the Lower Cretaceous in the Levant.
The study has been carried out in close cooperation with Dr. Regina Katsman, from the Department of Marine Geosciences as part of Peleg Haruzi MSc project.
January 2021 | Nicolas Waldmann appears in ILTV morning news in regards of the recent paper published in Science Advances!
The recent paper leaded by Dr. Yin Lu on the longest sesimic record on Earth as discovered in the ICDP Dead Sea core got to the news! This time to channel ILTV that broadcast news from Israel to USA.
January 2021 | New paper just published in Quaternary Science Reviews on sea level reconstruction at the end of the world!
Just recent from the over is a new paper entitled: " Relative sea level changes and glacio-isostatic modelling in the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, Chile: glacial and tectonic implications". In this study we present postglacial relative sea level changes on Isla Navarino, based on sediment cores from six lagoons, bogs or lakes, and stratigraphic investigations of three open sections, of which one is of MIS 5e age. In addition, one core from a lagoon in the south-western Beagle Channel has been analyzed and a system of terraces was mapped in the north-western Beagle Channel. The analyses of the core sites have resulted in two tentative relative sea level curves, displaying a rapid sea level rise at 8500-6500 cal yr BP, amounting to ∼10 and 14 m in eastern and western Navarino island, respectively, and reaching levels of ∼8 and >10 m, respectively, followed by a slow relative sea level fall. Our sea level observations have been compared with a range of modelling results of glacial-isostatic adjustments for estimating timing of deglaciation and ice sheet thicknesses. In addition, our model runs imply that the Patagonian and Tierra del Fuego ice sheet thicknesses were in the order of ∼1500 m.
For more detail, please follow this link.
January 2021 | New paper just published by members of our lab in Sedimentary Geology!
Volcanic atolls host exceptionally important marine ecosystems in the modern oceans. Yet, due to limited exposures, fossil atolls are poorly constrained. Multiple drowned Cretaceous volcanic atolls have been reported in the Pacific, but less information exists regarding those in the Tethys. Here we report on two early Cenomanian age volcanic atolls outcropping in Mt. Carmel (northern Israel), along the eastern Levant margin. These atolls are a few kilometers in diameter and differ significantly in facies from their surroundings, which are dominated by chalky calcareous mudstone and wackestone. The atolls are composed of grainstone, floatstone, rudstone and bafflestone facies, which are dominated by molluscans, notably gastropods, rudists, oysters and other bivalves. Corals and green algae are absent throughout these atolls. The studied sections of these atolls display a full succession, beginning with aggradation and ending with drowning. Age constraints for the volcanic phases suggest that deposition occurred within a relatively short time interval (<1 Myr) and the sequence represents a keep-up to give-up transition, within rising global and local sea-level trends. The inability of these atolls to keep up with rising sea level is attributed here to a suppressed carbonate factory, either due to drowning, turbidity and/or nutrient excess. Our study sheds new light on the dynamics of carbonate buildups during the Late Cretaceous and their ability to persist.
For more detail, please follow this link.
