Chronology of Pleistocene sedimentary cycles in the carmel Coastal Plain of Israel

The Eastern Mediterranean Coastal Plain of Israel is composed mainly of loam and sand and gravel of Pleistocene to Holocene age, supplemented by an Upper Pleistocene beach rock horizon, indicating an alternation of marine, coastal and continental environments. Owing to the complexity of the numerous exposures of aeolianites (kurkar) and soils (hamra) in the elongated ridges along the coastal plain, it is difficult to set up a reliable stratigraphy. A systematic luminescence dating study was carried out on loose sand, kurkar and hamra deposits in the coastal plain between Netanya and Haifa. In this study, 33 samples were investigated from key sections along the Carmel coast. The chronological results are in excellent agreement with the geological estimates. Five periods of sand accumulation and kurkar formation can be distinguished at about 140, 130, 90 and around 60 ka and between 60 and 50 ka. Hamra formation took place between 140 and 130 ka, around 80, 65 and 60 ka and between 20 and 12 ka. The beach rock is correlated with the sea level maximum during OIS 5e. The luminescence dating results indicate that neither kurkar nor hamra formation correlates with glacial and interglacial periods of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the chronological succession of these climate-related cycles is in good agreement with marine and terrestrial archives in the Eastern Mediterranean. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.