Anomalous Horizon Tsunami - 200-300 BCE
A paleo-tsunami deposit identified offshore of
Eilat by Goodman Tchernov et al. (2016)
provides sedimentological evidence for a
significant high-energy marine event in the
northern Gulf of Aqaba. The deposit was
recovered from two submarine cores at North
Beach and Tur Yam, where both sequences
preserve anomalous stratigraphic horizons
distinct from background sedimentation.
Radiocarbon constraints bracket the event
broadly between 500 and 100 BCE (
2σ), with the
highest probability clustering around ca.
200–300 BCE (≈2300 yr BP), indicating a
Hellenistic-period
disturbance affecting the nearshore marine
environment.
Sedimentological characteristics of the
anomalous horizons are consistent with tsunami
emplacement. At Tur Yam, the deposit consists of
a ~60 cm thick bed of mixed shells and broken
coral fragments exhibiting a wide range of
preservation states—from pristine to heavily
abraded—suggesting
rapid entrainment and
redeposition of shallow-marine material. At
North Beach, a ~32 cm thick layer at ~160 cm
depth is marked by a sharp increase in grain
size to >250 µm (coarse sand) and a pronounced
reduction in
foraminiferal
abundance, in some
intervals to near-barren conditions. Together,
these features indicate a sudden, high-energy
depositional event capable of
winnowing fines,
transporting coarse
bioclastic
debris, and
disrupting normal
benthic assemblages—criteria
consistent with an anomalous tsunami deposit
horizon in the Gulf of Aqaba.
