Tsunami deposits and hazard along north coast of Egypt correlate with historical earthquake records of eastern Mediterranean

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Institut de Physique du Globe, CNRS - UMR7516, Strasbourg, France.+

2 NRIAG, 11421 Helwan, Egypt.

3 Institut de Physique du Globe, CNRS - UMR7516, Strasbourg, France.

4 CRAAG, Dept. of Geophysics, Bouzareah-Algiers, Algeria.

5 Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

Abstract

Abstract
Paleotsunami deposits and tsunami scenarios are investigated along the north coast of Egypt in the framework of the National Research Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy (NRIAG) and EC-Funded ASTARTE European tsunami and the French-Egyptian IMHOTEP projects. The study area located west of Alexandria is selected according to historical earthquakes and related inundation events as recorded in the archives. The two selected sites at Kefr Saber ∼32-km west of Marsa Matruh city and ∼10 km northwest of the El Alamein village are inner Laguna protected by 2 to 20-m-high dunes parallel to the shoreline. The two selected sites were chosen according to geomorphological and geological aspects. Five trenches and 12 cores were dug in two selected sites Kefr Saber and EL Alamein. X-ray scanning, magnetic susceptibility, grain size analysis, sampling and macrofossil detections, XRD analysis, total organic and inorganic matter measurements and carbon dating were carried out to identify the paleotsunami signatures. The high energy white sandy layer with rich in reworked fossils at Kafr Saber are correlated with 21 July 365 in Kafr Saber, while the four characteristic high energy sedimentary layers at the El Alamein site are correlated with the historical tsunami events of 1600 BC, 21 July 365, 8 August 1303, 24 June 1870.

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