Kurkar is the regional name for an aeolian quartz sandstone with carbonate cement,[3] in other words an
eolianite or a
calcarenite (
calcareoussandstone or
grainstone), found on the
Levantine coast of the
Mediterranean Sea in
Turkey,[3]Syria,
Lebanon,
Israel,[4]
the
Gaza Strip[5] and northern
Sinai Peninsula.[6] The kurkar ridges are prevalent on Israel's coast from the area of Tel Aviv northwards.[4] South of
Mount Carmel they form parallel alignments, the result of
transgressive coastlines.[7]
Kurkar is the product of windblown quartzitic sands which created
dunes during the
Pleistocene,[8] which were cemented by carbonates transforming them to sandstone (lithification process), forming successive ridges along the shore. Kurkar occurs on the shore as well as under the current sea level, on the continental shelf. There are three underwater sandstone ridges off the coast of Israel and two on land.[9] The younger kurkar formations also build small islands or islets along the coast of Israel, Lebanon (at
Sidon and near
Tripoli), and Syria (
Arwad).[7] In the
Gaza Strip, coastal plain kurkar deposits of medium to coarse-grained calcareous sandstone are characterized by
crossbedding.[5]
Israel's coastal sand dunes, the habitat of many rare species of plants and animals, are made of kurkar interspersed with hamra, red sandy loam. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Palestine (then under the Ottoman Empire) had 285 square kilometers of kurkar and hamra formations. Due to construction, farming and the use of off-road vehicles, this has diminished to 109 square kilometers.[10]
Biology
Kurkar ridges in Israel provide nesting sites for an endangered species of bird, the European
bee-eater; and nine species of wild plants native only to Israel, such as the coastal iris.[10] Among the dominant plants on the kurkar ridge are lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus) and headed thyme (Coridothymus capitatus). The rare plants include French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) with its purple blooms, Paronychia palaestina and Galilee sea-lavender (Limonium galilaeum).
In May 2009, an offshore pilot study was conducted in the northern
Galilee by a team of scientists collecting geological, geophysical, geochemical and biological data in the vicinity of the Bustan Hagalil kurkar ridge. The ridge was mapped during the National Bathymetric Survey of Israel by multibeam
sonar.[11]
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abBrandon, C. J.; Hohlfelder, R. L.; Jackson, M. D.; Oleson, J. P. (2014).
"Kurkar". Building for Eternity: the History and Technology of Roman Concrete Engineering in the Sea. Oxbow Books. p. 237.
ISBN978-1-78297-420-8.
^
ab Francisc Dov Por. The Legacy of Tethys: An Aquatic Biogeography of the Levant. Pages 46-48, 54. Springer, New York, 1989, Monographiae Biologicae (Book 63),
ISBN9780792301899. "... around Tel Aviv ridges of aeolanitic sandstone ("kurkar") become prevalent. [...] Along the Lebanese and most of the Syrian coast, calcareous rocks alternate with kurkar ridges. [...] The vermetid platforms are especially well developed on the kurkar sandstones of the Israeli and southern Lebanese shores...."
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