@article{BowmanKorjenkovPoratetal.2004, author = {Bowman, Dan and Korjenkov, Andrey and Porat, Naomi and Czassny, Birka}, title = {Morphological response to quaternary deformation at an intermontane basin piedmont, the northern Tien Shan, Kyrghyzstan}, issn = {0169-555X}, year = {2004}, abstract = {The Tien Shan is a most active intracontinental mountain-building range with abundant Quaternary fault-related folding. In order to improve our understanding of Quaternary intermontane basin deformation, we investigated the intermontane Issyk-Kul Lake area, an anticline that was up-warped through the piedmont cover, causing partitioning of the alluvial fan veneer. To follow the morphological scenario during the warping process, we relied on surface-exposed and trenched structures and on alluvial fans and bajadas as reference surfaces. We used air photos and satellite images to analyze the spatial -temporal morphological record and determined the age of near surface sediments by luminescence dating. We demonstrate that the up-warped Ak-Teke hills are a thrust-generated subdued anticline with strong morphological asymmetry which results from the coupling of the competing processes of up-warp and erosional feedback. The active creeks across the up-warped anticline indicate that the antecedent drainage system kept pace with the rate of uplift. The rivers which once sourced the piedmont, like the Toru-Aygyr, Kultor and the Dyuresu, became deeply entrenched and gradually transformed the study area into an abandoned morphological surface. The up-warp caused local lateral drainage diversion in front of the northern backlimb and triggered the formation of a dendritic drainage pattern upfan. Luminescence dating suggest that the period of up-warp and antecedent entrenchment started after 157 ka. The morphologically mature study area demonstrates the response of fluvial systems to growing folds on piedmont areas, induced by a propagating frontal fold at a thrust belt edge, following shortening. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved}, language = {en} } @article{BowmanKorjenkovPorat2004, author = {Bowman, Dan and Korjenkov, Andrey and Porat, Naomi}, title = {Late-Pleistocene seismites from Lake Issyk-Kul, the Tien Shan Range, Kyrghyzstan}, issn = {0037-0738}, year = {2004}, abstract = {The aim of the study is to record the occurrence of sediment deformation structures in one of the tectonically most active areas on the globe, the Tien Shan range in Central Asia and to examine the significance of the deformations as indicators of palaeoseismicity. Soft-sediment deformation structures in form of balls and pseudo-nodules are exposed in the Issyk-Kul basin, within interfingering beds of shallow lacustrine, beach and fluviatile origin. Additional deformation structures that were encountered are: a complex and chaotic folded structure, giant balls and a "pillar" structure which has not been previously reported, where marl intrudes down into coarse pebbley sand and forms pillar morphology. Liquefaction features and bedforms related to storm and breaking waves were not encountered. Neither was there evidence of turbidites. Seven field criteria for relating soft-sediment deformation to palaeoseismic triggering provide strong evidence for a seismic origin of the deformation structures. Empirical relationships between magnitude and the maximum distance from an epicenter to liquefaction sites make the active epicentral zone north of Lake Issyk- Kul, with its frequent high magnitude events, the most favorable source for the deformation structures. Luminescence dating of the sediments gives a time window of 26 +/- 2.1 to 10.5 +/- 0.7 ka BP, indicating latest Pleistocene seismic activity.(C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved}, language = {en} } @article{KalbeSharonPoratetal.2014, author = {Kalbe, Johannes and Sharon, Gonen and Porat, Naomi and Zhang, Chengjun and Mischke, Steffen}, title = {Geological setting and age of the Middle Paleolithic site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (Upper Jordan Valley, Israel)}, series = {Quaternary international : the journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research}, volume = {331}, journal = {Quaternary international : the journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1040-6182}, doi = {10.1016/j.quaint.2013.05.052}, pages = {139 -- 148}, year = {2014}, abstract = {In this paper we present the sedimentary features and the luminescence chronology for Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO), an archaeological open air site at the southern margin of the Hula Basin (Northern Jordan Rift Valley, Israel). The site is characterized by a lithic assemblage ascribed primarily to the Middle Paleolithic Mousterian tradition, and by an excellent preservation of floral and faunal remains. Six geological units forming the stratigraphic sequence of the site were distinguished: (Unit 6) archaeologically sterile, light-colored limnic carbonates; (Unit 5) conglomerates of rounded basalt boulders and cobbles forming a hill-like topography; (Unit 4 and Unit 3) a sequence of similar dark silty sediments, attached to and overlaying the conglomerates, containing the archaeological horizons of the site; (Unit 2) a number of channels cutting into the top of Unit 3, filled with coarse sand and rounded basalt and limestone gravels of fluvial origin; and (Unit 1) a thin sand layer laid down by the present-day Jordan River covering another unconformity as a result of heavy machinery drainage operations in 1999. The OSL age for Unit 6 yielded a minimum age older than 460 ka. Sedimentary features and the embedded fossils suggest that Unit 1 can be linked to the Early Pleistocene Gadot Chalk. Unit 5 represents a local geological feature and could be an indicator for a period of increased erosion with formation of coarse grained sediments. The archaeological horizons form the lower parts of Unit 4 and yielded OSL-ages between 55 and 65 ka, indicating an affiliation to the sediments called "Ashmura Formation" with an Upper Pleistocene age for the site. The channel fills of Unit 2 can be dated by the recovered artifacts. These range in age from the Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) to historic times. Unit 1 is recent. The study of the complex NMO stratigraphy, combined with coherent OSL chronology, has enabled us to reconstruct parts of the geological history of the Hula Basin during the Late Pleistocene. It is this history that forms the background for the human migration and utilization of natural resources in the Upper Jordan Rift Valley. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} }