Eastern Mediterranean Region (eastern + mediterranean_region)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Developments in research concerning Mesozoic,Tertiary Tethys and neotectonics in the Isparta Angle, SW Turkey

GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 3-4 2003
Alastair H. F. Robertson
Abstract The Isparta Angle has played a critical role in the development of concepts concerning the tectonic evolution of the Mesozoic,Tertiary Neotethys in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Following early regional studies, mainly by the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Turkey (MTA), during the 1960s and 1970s, a French team mapped the area and confirmed a regional tectonostratigraphy of three great allochthonous systems of mainly Mesozoic,Early Tertiary age, termed the Antalya, Lycian and Hoyran-Bey,ehir-Had,m nappes. During the 1970s and 1980s a British group studied the Neotethyan evolution of what they termed the Antalya Complex, utilizing knowledge of plate tectonic processes. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s MTA systematically remapped the area at 1:25,000 scale. The root zone of the Antalya allochthon was either a southerly Neotethys, within and to the south of the Isparta Angle, or a northerly Neotethys, many hundreds of kilometres to the north. The southerly origin is nowadays favoured but some questions remain. Attention focused in the 1990s until present to the post-collisional, neotectonic evolution of the Isparta Angle and its links with the neighbouring Mediterranean Sea. Here, we trace the development of research and the ongoing debates concerning alternative tectonic concepts used to explain the evolution of the Isparta Angle from Mesozoic to Recent time. We conclude by outlining several tectonic models for the evolution of the Antalya allochthon within a southerly Neotethys that require to be tested by future field studies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Hepatitis A seroprevalence and its relationship with environmental factors in children of different age groups in Kahramanmaras, Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey

JOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS, Issue 12 2007
D. Kaya
Summary., Hepatitis A infections are influenced by environmental and socioeconomic factors. Epidemiologic studies regarding hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in Turkey have not previously examined these factors. We investigated HAV seroprevalence and its association with sociodemographic factors among children of various ages in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. The study included 1142 children (603 male and 539 female) between ages of 6 months and 18 years. Seropositivity in the whole group was 57.2%. HAV prevalence rates according to age groups were as follows: 35.5% in 6,23 months group, 19.2% in 2,5 years group, 74.3% in 6,10 years group, 83.0% in 11,14 years group, 92.8% in 15,18 years group. Risk factors that influenced seropositivity were; dense population, over-crowded families, excessive number of siblings, low socioeconomic status and low education of the mother. As HAV seroprevalence in children older than 6 years of age is high, we recommend hepatitis A vaccination in this region after the first year of life. [source]


Strontium Isotopes in the Investigation of Early Glass Production: Byzantine and Early Islamic Glass from the Near East,

ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 1 2003
I. C. Freestone
87Sr/86Sr ratios have been determined for glasses from four production sites, dated to between the sixth and the 11th centuries, in the Eastern Mediterranean region. On the basis of elemental analyses, the glasses at each location are believed to have been melted from different raw materials. Two glass groups, from Bet Eli,ezer and Bet She,an, in Israel, are believed to have been based upon mixtures of Levantine coastal sands and natron, and have 87Sr/86Sr ratios close to 0.7090, plus high elemental strontium, confirming a high concentration of modern marine shell (87Sr/86Sr ~ 0.7092) in the raw materials. The isotopic compositions of these two groups of glasses differ slightly, however, probably reflecting a varying ratio of limestone to shell because the sands that were utilized were from different coastal locations. Natron-based glasses from a workshop at Tel el Ashmunein, Middle Egypt, have 87Sr/86Sr values of 0.70794,0.70798, and low elemental strontium, consistent with the use of limestone or limestone-rich sand in the batch. High-magnesia glasses based on plant ash, from Banias, Israel, have 87Sr/86Sr values of 0.70772,0.70780, probably reflecting the isotopic composition of the soils that were parental to the plants that were ashed to make the glass. Strontium and its isotopes offer an approach to identifying both the raw materials and the origins of ancient glasses, and are a potentially powerful tool in their interpretation. [source]


Seismotectonics of the Sinai subplate , the eastern Mediterranean region

GEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2003
Amos Salamon
SUMMARY We define the Sinai subplate, from a seismotectonic perspective, as a distinct component in the plate tectonics of the eastern Mediterranean region. This is based on the tectonic characteristics of a comprehensive listing of all ML, 4 recorded seismicity in the region during the 20th century, on newly calculated and recalculated fault plane mechanisms of first P -wave arrivals and on published solutions based on waveform inversion of broad-band data. The low seismicity level and scarcity of strong events in the region required a thorough search for useful data and a careful examination of the reliability of the focal solutions. We gathered all available records of first P -wave onsets from the ISS and ISC Bulletins and the local seismic networks. Altogether, we were able to calculate 48 new focal mechanisms and 33 recalculated ones of events that occurred during the years 1940,1992. With the increasing number of teleseismic and regional broad-band stations in the later years, we added 37 solutions based on teleseismic and regional waveform inversions of events that occurred during 1977,2001. These mechanisms enabled us to examine the seismotectonic character of the Sinai subplate. The strike and rake directions of the calculated mechanisms usually reflect the geometry and the large-scale type of deformation observed along the boundaries of the Sinai subplate,the Dead Sea Transform, the Cypriot Arc convergent zone and the Suez Rift. Nevertheless, along each of these boundaries we found anomalous solutions that attest to the complexity of the deformation processes along plate margins. Earthquakes along the Dead Sea Transform exhibit mainly sinistral transtension and transpression, reflecting its leaky manner and local change in the transform geometry. The presence of other unexpected mechanisms near the transform, however, reflects the heterogeneous deformation it induces around. As expected, thrust mechanisms along the Cypriot Arc mirror its convergent nature and typical curved geometry. Transtension and transpressional solutions in the eastern segment of the arc reflect the sinistral shear motion between Anatolia and Sinai there. However, shear mechanisms found between Cyprus and the Eratosthenes Seamount pose a problem regarding its collision process. Most intriguing of all are ML, 4 thrust and shear solutions found in the Gulf of Suez. They are associated with predominantly normal mechanisms within a rift zone and therefore constitute a unique phenomenon, yet to be deciphered. [source]


Holocene climate change in the eastern Mediterranean region: a comparison of stable isotope and pollen data from Lake Gölhisar, southwest Turkey,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 4 2007
Warren J. Eastwood
Abstract Stable isotope and pollen data from Gölhisar Gölü, a small intramontane lake located in southwest Turkey, provide complementary records of Holocene climate change. Modern oxygen and hydrogen isotope water data are used as a means of comparing present-day isotope composition of the lake water to the past oxygen isotope composition of the lake water as calculated from 18O/16O ratios in calcite precipitated in the summer months. Despite the lake system being chemically dilute, the modern isotope data clearly establish that the lake water is evaporated in relation to its spring input, suggesting that the palaeo data can be interpreted primarily in terms of changing precipitation/evaporation ratios. ,18O and ,13C values from authigenic calcite through the Holocene show predominantly negative values indicating climatic conditions wetter than today. Particularly notable are low (depleted) isotope values during the earliest Holocene (ca. 10,600,8800 cal. yr. BP), a period for which pollen data imply drier conditions than at present. This divergence between pollen-inferred and stable isotope palaeoclimate data is found in other east Mediterranean lake sediment records, and suggests that vegetation may have taken several millennia to reach climatic equilibrium at the start of the Holocene. Isotopic fluctuations during the early-to-mid Holocene (8800,5100 cal. yr. BP) suggest oscillations between aridity and humidity. Higher ,18O and ,13C values for the second half of the Holocene indicate generally drier conditions than during the period before ca.5100 cal. yr BP although there is some evidence for increased humidity coinciding with pollen evidence for increasing human impact and intensification of agriculture, notably during the so-called Bey,ehir Occupation Phase (Classical and early Byzantine periods). The modern trend towards aridity started about 1300 yr ago. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


First report of leaf rust on plum (Prunus cerasifera) by Tranzschelia pruni-spinosa var. discolor in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey

PLANT PATHOLOGY, Issue 2 2004
S. Soylu
No abstract is available for this article. [source]