MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–When I left Wooster on Saturday morning it was 34°F and overcast. It was sunny and an astonishing 84°F when I arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday afternoon. That additional 50 degrees felt very good indeed after a winter of polar vortices and late-March snowstorms. I’m now based in the Ramon Suites Hotel in Mitzpe Ramon near the lip of the spectacular Makhtesh Ramon (N 30.60638°, E 34.80128°).
I’m back in Israel as part of my research leave from the College. This is my chance to explore new outcrops and ideas with my Israeli colleagues to prepare for the next generation of Independent Study students — and, of course, to do plenty of science for its own sake. I miss my students, though, for their companionship, sharp eyes, challenging questions, and navigation abilities (i.e., telling me when I’ve taken a wrong turn). This is how the leave system works so that we always have fresh projects with interesting and testable hypotheses. This is my 11th field season in Israel.
Today I met my long-time friend Yoav Avni of the Geological Survey of Israel, along with Zeev Lewy, a paleontologist retired from the Survey, to look at a fossiliferous unit Zeev discovered over two decades ago south of Mitzpe Ramon. We looked at the thickest section of the Zichor Formation (Late Cretaceous, Coniacian) to sort out a remarkably diverse set of silicified (silica-replaced) fossils associated with a mat of worm tubes (possibly of the genus Filograna). The top image shows the upper portion of the Zichor, with Yoav for scale (location: N 30.30587°, E 34.96543°). The image below is a view of the bedding plane with most (but not all) of the silicified fossils colored dark brown.
One of the cool things about this layer is that the fossils are silicified, which is rare in this part of the Cretaceous section. Another is that aragonitic mollusks are preserved in this way (especially gastropods and bivalves), along with their calcitic cousins (like oysters and pectenids). The Filograna-like worm tube layer itself is fascinating since no one knows much about the paleoecology of this group, and we suspect it may have some significant evidence about the paleoenvironment encoded in its spaghetti-like appearance.
The top of the Zichor meets the bottom of the Menuha Formation chalks (Late Cretaceous, Santonian). In this view, the yellow and brown Zichor is in the foreground and middle ground, with the whitish Menuha in the background.
Yoav and I visited the boundary between the Zichor (darker unit on the left) and Menuha (lighter on the right) to assess their relationship (N 30.30212°, E 34.95909°). At outcrops 30 km to the north this boundary is marked by a deep unconformity (eroded interval) and a layer of encrusted and bored cobbles. Here the boundary is flat and nearly continuous. The layer of silicified shells is just a few centimeters below the unconformity. This may not be by chance — units immediately below unconformities often have silicified zones.
Some of you may remember these unit names from previous expeditions. Micah Risacher (’11) worked on the Zichor Formation and its fossils in the Makhtesh Ramon area, and Andrew Retzler (’11) did his Independent Study research on the Menuha. We can now build on their excellent work as we develop additional outcrops and new questions.
Finally, it wouldn’t be the Negev if there wasn’t some ordnance on the outcrop. Can you tell what kind of bomb is shown above? The clues are in its current condition!
Is that a bomb from the Six-Day-War (1967)?
Hey Luke: An answer! Actually, it was an odd question. How would anyone know what I meant? It is a practice bomb, or dummy bomb. It was originally filled with sand. The crumpled (not shattered) body and intact tail shows it hit the ground hard but did not explode. That’s why I could put my foot near it!