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Ancient coastal wells of Caesarea Maritima, Israel, an indicator for relative sea level changes during the last 2000 years.

Sivan, Dorit; Toueg, R; Raban, A.; Porath, Y; Shirman, B; Lambeck, Kurt

Description

During the detailed excavations of ancient Caesarea, Israel, East Mediterranean, 64 coastal water wells have been examined that date from the early Roman period (with the oldest occurring in the 1st century AD), up to the end of the Crusader period (mid-13th century AD). The depths of these coastal water wells establish the position of the ancient water table and therefore the position of sea level for the first century AD up to 1300 AD. The connection between the coastal water table and...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorSivan, Dorit
dc.contributor.authorToueg, R
dc.contributor.authorRaban, A.
dc.contributor.authorPorath, Y
dc.contributor.authorShirman, B
dc.contributor.authorLambeck, Kurt
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-13T23:07:02Z
dc.identifier.issn0012-821X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/86038
dc.description.abstractDuring the detailed excavations of ancient Caesarea, Israel, East Mediterranean, 64 coastal water wells have been examined that date from the early Roman period (with the oldest occurring in the 1st century AD), up to the end of the Crusader period (mid-13th century AD). The depths of these coastal water wells establish the position of the ancient water table and therefore the position of sea level for the first century AD up to 1300 AD. The connection between the coastal water table and changes in sea level has been established from modern observations in several wells on time scales of days and months and this is used to reconstruct sea level during historical time. The results indicate that during the Byzantine period, sea level at Caesarea was higher by about 30 cm than today. The Late Moslem and Crusader data shows greater fluctuations but the data sets are also much smaller than for the earlier periods. The consistency of the data indicates that the near-coastal well data from Caesarea provides a reliable indicator of sea-level change, with an accuracy of about 10-15 cm. These results are consistent with observations for earlier periods and, with comparisons to model-predicted glacio-hydro isostatic sea-level change, indicate that ocean volumes have been constant for much of the past 2000 years. The well data is also consistent with an absence of significant vertical tectonic movement of the coast at Caesarea over about 2000 years.
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.sourceEarth and Planetary Science Letters
dc.subjectKeywords: archaeological evidence; Holocene; sea level change; water level; well; Asia; Eurasia; Israel; Middle East Archaeological indicators; Caesarea; Isostasy; Israel; Mediterranean; Roman to Crusader period; Sea-level change
dc.titleAncient coastal wells of Caesarea Maritima, Israel, an indicator for relative sea level changes during the last 2000 years.
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.description.refereedYes
local.identifier.citationvolume222
dc.date.issued2004
local.identifier.absfor040503 - Physical Oceanography
local.identifier.absfor210110 - Maritime Archaeology
local.identifier.absfor040403 - Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
local.identifier.ariespublicationMigratedxPub14775
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationSivan, Dorit, University of Haifa
local.contributor.affiliationLambeck, Kurt, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationToueg, R, University of Haifa
local.contributor.affiliationRaban, A., University of Haifa
local.contributor.affiliationPorath, Y, Israel Antiquity Authority
local.contributor.affiliationShirman, B, Survey of Israel
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage315
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage330
local.identifier.doi10.1016/j.epsl.2004.02.007
dc.date.updated2015-12-12T08:07:44Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-2342558087
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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