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The Sharon Escarpment or Sharon CliffE. Galil, D. Zviely
"Geo-archaeological markers reveal magnitude and rates of Israeli coastal cliff erosion and retreat"
''Journal of Coastal Conservation'', Vol. 23, Issue. 4, 2019, pp. 747-758, is the
The Sharon Escarpment (Mediterranean coast, Israel): Stability, dynamics, risks and environmental management
''Journal of Coastal Research'', vol. 16, no. 1, 2000 pp. 207-224 The escarpment is up to 45m in height, of steepness 75-90°. Both the ridge and the escarpment are composed of alternating layers of ''
'' (the local variety of sandstone) and loose palaeosol. The escarpment gradually moves eastward due to collapsing and
IHM_שביל_השרון.jpeg , Sharon Trail
PikiWiki Israel 22217 Geography of Israel.JPG, A rock in the Olga Beach Nature Reserve
Sharonb060.jpg, A coast near Arsuf
Sharonb061.jpg, Cliffs near Arsuf
File:Sjaron012.jpg, Old quarry at the edge of the Sharon plain
The Sharon Escarpment or Sharon CliffE. Galil, D. Zviely"Geo-archaeological markers reveal magnitude and rates of Israeli coastal cliff erosion and retreat"
''Journal of Coastal Conservation'', Vol. 23, Issue. 4, 2019, pp. 747-758, is the
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
in Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
that connects the level of the coastal plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...
with the level of the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
beach and the continental shelf
A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
and stretches along the Sharon coastal ridge approximately between Giv'at Olga and Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, i.e., along the Sharon plain
The Sharon plain ( ''HaSharon Arabic: سهل شارون Sahel Sharon'') is the central section of the Israeli coastal plain. The plain lies between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Samarian Hills, to the east. It stretches from Nahal ...
.I. Perath, G. AlmagorThe Sharon Escarpment (Mediterranean coast, Israel): Stability, dynamics, risks and environmental management
''Journal of Coastal Research'', vol. 16, no. 1, 2000 pp. 207-224 The escarpment is up to 45m in height, of steepness 75-90°. Both the ridge and the escarpment are composed of alternating layers of ''
kurkar
Kurkar ( ar, كركار / he, כורכר) is the term used in Palestinian Arabic and modern Hebrew for the rock type of which lithified sea sand dunes consist. The equivalent term used in Lebanon is ramleh. haron Horowitz. ''The Quaternary of I ...
'' (the local variety of sandstone">haron Horowitz. ''The Quaternary of I ...slumping seawards. The separated slabs of ''kurkar'' slide downwards and crumble completely into fans of sand, swashed away by waves. The catchment area of the escarpment is visibly eroded by surface runoff">runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
, but this erosion is negligible compared to rockslides and slumps.
The escarpment is threatened by road building, sand quarrying, drainage, slope grading, and other uncontrolled tampering with the topography. Coastal erosion of the Israeli coastal plain endangers ancient cities, such as Ashkelon, Yavne-Yam, Jaffa, Apollonia–Arsuf, Caesarea, Atlit, Akko and Achziv.
The ridge was formed during the Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...
and the cliff developed when at about 7,500 years Before Present
Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...
(BP) the sea level reached the western edge of the current ridge. Now this edge is at about 8 m. below the sea level.
Galil and Zviely suggest that over these 7,500 years the cliff retreated for about 730m, i.e., at the rate about 9.7 cm. per year.
Gallery
References
{{reflist Coasts of the Mediterranean Sea Landforms of Israel Sharon plain