Resumen de Tephras, tsunamis, and modern carbonate beachrock
This paper has replaced my initial editorial on carbonate beachrock. The newspapers (local, regional, national, and international) report almost daily on the events leading to the beachrock formation, especially the work of tsunamis. I ask the reader to refer to my recent paper (Friedman 2004) on Holocene chronostratigraphic beachrocks and their geologic climatic significance to provide a background.
This paper is concerned with tephras, tsunamis, and beachrock from two main locations: (1) the Red Sea, Mediterranean, and Sinai Peninsula in the Middle East and (2) Southeast Asia. These events coincide with the world's most apocapliptic processes. The timing of the Middle East may coincide with the timing of the exodus of the Israelities from Egypt, and may be factors in the background of the biblical account and date to [aprox.] 3500 years.
The most powerful eruption in recorded history, the Thera/Santorini eruption, not only destroyed the Minoan civilization, but spread tephra over much of the eastern Mediterranean, an event that may have been the basis for the legend of the disappearance of Atlantis.
The beachrock which I had dated from southeast Asia yielded a modern age (during the last one hundred years). The earthquake and tsunami of December 24, 2004 was among the worst tragedies in history. It is estimated that 270,000 people died in a massive tsunami. These are the settings which include formation of carbonate beachrock.
