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 in Israel that connects the level of the coastal plain with the level of the Mediterranean Sea 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 Giv'at Olga ( he, גבעת אולגה, "Olga's Hill") is a neighborhood of the Israeli city of Hadera. It was named after Olga Hankin, the wife of the Zionist activist Yehoshua Hankin. It was founded in 1949 around the house Hankin built known ...

and Tel Aviv, 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. Almagor
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 '' kurkar'' (the local variety of sandstone) and loose

palaeosol In the geosciences, paleosol (''palaeosol'' in Great Britain and Australia) is an ancient soil that formed in the past. The precise definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geolo ...

. The escarpment gradually moves eastward due to collapsing and 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

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 Yavne-Yam ( he, יבנה ים, also spelled Yavneh-Yam, literally Yavne-Sea) or Minet Rubin (Arabic, literally Port of Rubin, referring to biblical Reuben; el, Ἰαμνιτῶν Λιμήν) is an archaeological site located on Israel's Southern ...

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

Apollonia–Arsuf Apollonia ( grc, Απολλωνία; he, אפולוניה), known in the Early Islamic period as Arsuf ( ar, أرْسُوف, translit=Arsūf) and in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem as Arsur, was an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of w ...

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

, 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 (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

IHM_שביל_השרון.jpeg , Sharon Trail PikiWiki Israel 22217 Geography of Israel.JPG, A rock in the

Olga Beach Nature Reserve Giv'at Olga ( he, גבעת אולגה, "Olga's Hill") is a neighborhood of the Israeli city of Hadera. It was named after Olga Hankin, the wife of the Zionist activist Yehoshua Hankin. It was founded in 1949 around the house Hankin built known ...

Sharonb060.jpg, A coast near Arsuf Sharonb061.jpg, Cliffs near Arsuf File:Sjaron012.jpg, Old quarry at the edge of the Sharon plain

References

{{reflist Coasts of the Mediterranean Sea Landforms of Israel Sharon plain