Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Palaeoenvironment

Palaeogeographical research

In april 2008, a first paleoenvironmental research was carried out to reconstruct the history of the coastline in the surroundings of the Bronze Age harbour near Hala Sultan Tekke. The archaeological site is currently located directly landwards from an extensive salt lake fringing the coastline south of Larnaca. The tidal amplitude in the area ranges between 25 and 40 cm.
The Holocene sedimentary sequence of the salt lake is being investigated to 1) detect the topography of the pre-transgressive surface; 2) define the Holocene maximum marine flooding limit; 3) test a hypothetical coastal evolution model of a sheltered marine embayment, with a NE-SW growing coastal spit, progressively isolating a lagoonal environment that progressively became enclosed and evolved into the present-day salt lake.
Fifteen hand-operated cores were drilled in the salt lake (nearby the airport of Larnaca and Meneou beach) using a gouge auger to obtain undisturbed and continuous cores down to a depth of 5-6 m below the surface. A detailed lithological facies analysis of the cores was carried out in the field, and samples were taken for radiocarbon age determination and microfossil (foraminifera and diatoms) determination.

 

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