The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann

A new study shows that sandstones from the northern Eastern Mediterranean preserve a tectonic time capsule, recording the convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian plates from the onset of subduction to continental collision. This study presents, for the first time, a continuous record of the tectonic process that spanned approximately 100 million years.

Geochronology and isotopic analysis of detrital mineral grains identified distinct stages of plate convergence, including magmatism, high-pressure metamorphism, and rapid exhumation of deep crustal rocks during the Late Cretaceous and Eocene, all associated with subduction of the Neotethys Ocean. Combining the isotopic data with sedimentary evidence further allowed to trace subsequent mountain building, the development of the Eastern Anatolian Plateau, and widespread magmatism during the Miocene, associated with the Arabia-Eurasia continental collision.

The study was led by Dr. Adar Glazer as part of his PhD research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the supervision of Prof. Dov Avigad (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Dr. Navot Morag (Geological Survey of Israel), in collaboration with Dr. Axel Gerdes (Goethe University Frankfurt).

The paper, entitled:

100 million years of tectonic evolution along the Bitlis-Pütürge Suture

was published in Gondwana Research and is available at:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X26001942

New research determent that the archaeological site of Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley is dated to at least 1.9 million years ago, hundreds of thousands of years earlier than previously thought. This means that early humans were already living in the Levant region at a very early stage in their expansion from Africa to the rest of the world.

For the full paper