"Origin of the Sinai-Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: mineralogical and geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history" (2013 Overall, the mineralogical data suggest that the dunes are derived dominantly from the Nile Delta, with Sinai wadi sands being a minor contributor. Geochemical data that proxy for both the light mineral fraction (SiO 2 /10eAl 2 O 3 þ Na 2 O þ K 2 OeCaO) and heavy mineral fraction (Fe 2 O 3 eMgOeTiO 2 ) also indicate a dominant Nile Delta source for the dunes. Thus, we report here the first empirical evidence that the SinaieNegev dunes are derived dominantly from the Nile Delta. Linkage of the SinaieNegev erg to the Nile Delta as a source is consistent with the distribution of OSL ages of Negev dunes in recent studies. Stratigraphic studies show that during the Last Glacial period, when dune incursions in the SinaieNegev erg began, what is now the Nile Delta area was characterized by a broad, sandy, minimally vegetated plain, with seasonally dry anastomosing channels. Such conditions were ideal for providing a ready source of sand for aeolian transport under what were probably much stronger glacial-age winds.With the post-glacial rise in sea level, the Nile River began to aggrade. Post-glacial sedimentation has been dominated by fine-grained silts and clays. Thus, sea level, along with favorable climatic conditions, emerges as a major influence on the timing of dune activity in the SinaieNegev erg, through its control on the supply of sand from the Nile Delta. The mineralogy of the SinaieNegev dunes is also consistent with a proposed hypothesis that these sediments are an important source of loess in Israel.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

We analyzed geologic structures adjacent to the Dead Sea Fault (DSF) along the margins of the Sinai and Arabian plates in northern Israel in order to investigate the style and sequence of deformation associated with a transform plate boundary. The field area, located between the Hula basin in northern Israel and the Lebanese restraining bend in southern Lebanon, is divided into distinct structural blocks by a series of distributed faults that comprise this approximately N‐S trending section of the DSF. Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks within and adjacent to the structural blocks are folded into broad anticlines and synclines, with more intense localized shortening manifested by tight folds and thrust duplexes. Kinematic analyses of folds, faults, and veins provide evidence for two directions of regional shortening: (1) NW‐SE shortening responsible for the formation of NE‐SW trending fold axes and left‐lateral strike‐slip motion along N‐S trending faults and (2) E‐W shortening as indicated by N‐S trending fold axes, N‐S striking thrust faults, and extensional calcite‐filled veins that strike E‐W. Crosscutting relations and U‐Th ages of the vein material suggest that the E‐W phase of transform‐normal shortening represents the most recent and presently active phase of deformation. The structural analysis provides evidence for the transition from an early (Miocene–lower Pliocene) phase of pure strike‐slip motion to a late (Pleistocene to Recent) phase of convergent strike slip. The latter phase is characterized by strain partitioning, which is manifested by discrete left‐lateral strike‐slip motion across weak N‐S faults and the development of a fold‐thrust belt in response to transform‐normal shortening. Analogous to the strain partitioning observed in southern California, we suggest that blind thrust faults adjacent to the DSF in the study area may pose a seismic risk to populations in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.

A stratigraphic analysis of Jurassic to Eocene rock units in the Metulla quadrangle provides ample evidence for a left-lateral offset based on the differences between the two sides of the Dead Sea Rift (DSR). The stratigraphic evidence for this offset is as follows: (1) The Jurassic Kidod shales of Mount Hermon face a limestone domain on the west side of the DSR throughout all of the Galilee; (2) the Neocomian volcanic sequence east of the DSR at the base of the Hatira sandstones in Mount Hermon is equivalent to the Tayasir Volcanics to its west in northern Samaria, and is different from the volcanic sequence of the Naftali Mountains and of Gebel Niha, which occur higher in the stratigraphic section; (3) sandstones of the Aptian Hidra Formation exposed in Mount Hermon are correlated with sandstones from the same stratigraphic unit in Samaria, while the Hidra Formation in the Naftali Mountains lacks sandstones; (4) the Albian Mas'ada Formation of Mount Hermon comprises limestone in the lower part and marl above it, while the equivalent Rama Formation in the Naftali Mountains is basically a marl sequence; (5) the Turonian Bina Formation exposed in the Shamir "windows" is divided into three units comparable to the Derorim, Shivta, and Nezer formations in the Gilboa Mountains, 90 km to the south and west of the DSR; (6) the Paleocene Taqiye marls in the Hula 3 borehole, north of Kefar Gil'adi and less than 2 km to the east of the Qiryat Shemona fault (and west of the Tel Hay fault) is about 360 m thick, which is comparable with the 370-m section exposed in Nahal Bezeq 100 km to the south, only several kilometers west of the western fault of the DSR. The Taqiye Formation of the Naftali Mountains is much thinner, and it appears in a marl and chert facies. Based on the last evidence, we suggest that the Qiryat Shemona fault forms the boundary between the African and Arabian plates in northern Israel.

Rippled flanks of longitudinal dunes and the slip faces of various dune types can be distinguished granulometrically by comparing the top to bottom trend of changes of sorting in the sand population of each individual slope. Flank sands, which are prone to sorting processes through migration of ripples alongslope, are always better sorted upslope whereas slipface sands, which are controlled by avalanche and grainfall of sands, become better sorted downslope. Considering the absolute values of the bottom samples, the sands of the slip faces are both better sorted and the size distribution more symmetrical than those of the rippled flanks. Applying this approach in investigating ancient sediments could improve palaeogeographical interpretations.

The course of the ancient Pelusiac branch of the Nile River has been traced on a deltaic plain east of the Suez Canal, between the El Baqar Canal and Tell el Farama (ancient Pelusium). Two minor distributaries branched northward. The critical stage in the process of the silting up of the lower reaches of the Pelusiac branch, due to prograding beach accretion, occurred around A.D. 25. Ancient ruins in the area are closely associated with the courses.