Vanessa Mary An Heyvaert

Institute of Natural Sciences · Geological Survey of Belgium

East Asia is a major source of dust accounting for 20% of the global dust emission. Work on reconstructing past changes in dust transport in East Asia is complicated by difficulties in distinguishing local sedimentation from aerial material and lack of suitable material for age determination. Here, we address these issues and present a new dust pro...

Die Nordsee ist ein weitestgehend sehr flaches Nebenmeer des Atlantiks, der mit seinen passiven Ozeanrändern einer vermeintlich geringen Tsunamigefahr unterliegt. Wenngleich durch Seebeben ausgelöste Tsunamis in der Nordsee tatsächlich extrem selten sind und nur moderate Ausmaße annehmen, gibt es zahlreiche sedimentäre Spuren von Tsunamis aus dem H...

A sedimentary investigation was carried out into the rise and fall of mediaeval Bruges’ maritime access. Because the mediaeval metropolis had no direct connection with the North Sea, its maritime connectivity during the High- and Late-Middle Ages depended on a tidal channel, known as the ‘Zwin’. In order to reconstruct the mediaeval physical enviro...

Severe storm flooding poses a major hazard to the coasts of north‐western Europe. However, the long‐term recurrence patterns of extreme coastal flooding and their governing factors are poorly understood. Therefore, high‐resolution sedimentary records of past North Atlantic storm flooding are required. This multi‐proxy study reconstructs storm‐induc...

Tsunami deposits around the North Sea basin are needed to assess the long-term hazard of tsunamis. Here, we present sedimentary evidence of the youngest tsunami on the Shetland Islands from Loch Flugarth, a coastal lake on northern Mainland. Three gravity cores show organic-rich background sedimentation with many sub-centimetre-scale sand layers, r...

To assess the long-term hazard of tsunamis, particularly in regions with a short and fragmented historical record, sedimentary deposits of tsunamis are an essential tool. In the North Sea region, evidence of tsunamis is scarce. The Shetland Islands are an exception, as they contain abundant deposits of the Storegga tsunami (c. 8150 cal. a BP), and...

Severe storm surges pose a major hazard to the coasts of northwestern Europe. Therefore, high-resolution records of past North Atlantic storminess are required to assess (i) whether storm activity has increased in recent decades and (ii) which future risks may arise from storm surges. This study aims to decipher storm-induced overwash processes in...

Severe storms, their extreme waves and surges pose the greatest natural hazard to the coasts of northwestern Europe, commonly resulting in infrastructural damages and high financial losses. Proxy records of past storminess are important for assessing future risks that may arise from storm surges and assessing whether storm activity has increased in...

Organic matter in lake sediments contains information that can be used to reconstruct lake environmental histories over decades or centuries. In this study, we used organic geochemical proxies (i.e., total organic carbon [TOC], TOC/total nitrogen [TN] atomic ratios [C/N], stable carbon isotope ratios of TOC [δ13CTOC] and palmitic acid [δ13CC16:0],...

In search of new proxies to improve tsunami deposit identification, ancient DNA (aDNA) has recently started to be used to characterize microbial communities or microfossil assemblages. For instance, foraminifera aDNA can be used when carbonate tests have been dissolved after deposition to still trace the source area of a deposit and to discriminate...

The most recent eruption of Mt. Fuji (Japan), the VEI 5 Hōei plinian eruption (CE 1707) heavily impacted Lake Yamanaka, a shallow lake located at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Here, we discuss the influence of the Hōei eruption on the lacustrine sedimentation of Lake Yamanaka using high resolution geophysical and geochemical measurements on gravity cores....

This special issue covers the EGU 2016 session GM6.2/SSS3.10 ‘Geoarchaeology: Human adaptation to landscape changes, landscape resilience to human impact and integrating palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records’. This session in Vienna received a high number of abstracts with 32 submitted, comprising 11 oral and 21 poster presentations. This...

An 8000-year lacustrine sediment record from Lake Motosu (Fuji Five Lakes) records several eruptions, including potentially unreported events, of the active Mt. Fuji volcano, which receives approximately 47 million annual visitors. A high-fidelity age model is constructed from tephra ages and high-density radiocarbon dating of terrestrial macrofoss...

High-resolution seismic profiles, combined with the integration of published drilling data, provide a detailed paleoenvironmental history of Lake Yamanaka (Fuji Five Lakes, Japan). This study presents a detailed analysis of the different depositional stages of the area currently occupied by Lake Yamanaka (floodplain wetland, river and lake). From c...

Societies rely on a secure, responsible and affordable supply of resources to meet their basic needs, in order to live life in a safe and healthy environment. The natural resources from the subsurface, i.e. groundwater, geo-energy and raw materials, represent essential elements in this provision. Safety from catastrophic events, such as those linke...

The Shirasuka lowlands, located on the Enshu-nada coast of central Japan, record evidence for numerous extreme wave events. Here we test the applicability of using the luminescence signal from feldspars to date these young (< 1000 a) extreme wave event deposits. The signal used for dating is the IRSL signal (measured at 50?C) as part of a post-IR I...

Geological investigations of coastal sediment sequences play a key role in verifying earthquake and tsunami characteristics inferred from historical records. In this paper, we present a multi-proxy investigation of a coastal lowland site facing the Nankai-Suruga megathrust and appraise evidence for tsunamis and earthquake-triggered terrestrial mass...

Lacustrine sediments are particularly sensitive to modifications within the lake catchment. In a volcanic area, sedimentation rates are directly affected by the history of the volcano and its eruptions. Here, we investigate the impact of Mt. Fuji Volcano (Japan) on Lake Motosu and its watershed. The lacustrine infill is studied by combining seismic...

In Belgian lithostratigraphy, the Gent Formation was previously introduced to encompass all Quaternary sandy aeolian sediments. It has been difficult to apply, however, as it was incomplete, regionally biased, and not based on sediment properties alone. To solve this problem the Gent Formation is revised both in terms of definition and subdivision....

Assessing Vertical Elevation Changes of Coastal Areas in Southern Chile to Improve The Understanding of Their Paleotsunami Sedimentary Records

This study aims to understand (mainly qualitatively) the long-term role of human impact on avulsion processes and the development of fluvial (mega-) fans in semi-arid environments. In this paper we refer to human impact as the direct influences of actions on the river's hydraulics (i.e. flow regulation, flow diversion and channel engineering). In f...

Two of the primary external factors influencing the variability of major river systems, over river reach scales, are human activities and tectonics. Based on the rivers Karun and Dez in south-west Iran, this paper presents an analysis of the geomorphological responses of these major rivers to ancient human modifications and tectonics. Direct human...

The geoarchaeology session “Where earth scientists meet Cleopatra: geoarchaeology of rocks, sediments, soils and climate” held at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna in April 2013 provided a forum for the discussion of integrated approaches to landscape reconstruction, analysis and interpretation. The session was...

Throughout the Quaternary, episodes of glaciation and associated low sea level have resulted in the connection of the terrestrial landmasses of Britain and mainland Europe. The river systems that established themselves across these newly emergent land surfaces of the coastal plain would have created important migration corridors for both animals an...

The Mesopotamian alluvial plain is dominated by large aggrading river systems that are prone to avulsion. Early civilizations depended on the position of rivers for their economic survival and were thus very sensitive to channel shifts that could be devastating. On the other hand, such shifts could also provide new opportunities for settlements and...

The AD 1498 Meio earthquake (M8.2 similar to 8.4) that occurred along the eastern Nankai trough, and the tsunami generated by the earthquake, induced major geomorphological and social changes along the Pacific coast of central Japan. Geological coring along the palaeochannel of the Hamana River, southern Shizuoka Prefecture, revealed that its river...

Avulsion can be defined as the diversion of flow from an existing channel onto the floodplain (or the fan surface), eventually resulting in a new channel belt. It represents the response of a river system to a wide range of autogenic factors, such as river meandering and vertical accretion, and allogenic controls, such as tectonics, climate change...

The objective of this research is to study the role of a tsunami, generated by the 1498 Meio earthquake (M8.2 - 8.4) along the eastern Nankai on the geomorphological evolution of the Hamana river floodplain, located along the Pacific coastline of Central Japan (Shizuoka prefecture). Historical sources document a sudden decline at the end of the 15t...

This poster presents paleogeographical scenario maps for the southwestern North Sea Basin, where onshore and offshore territories of Belgium, The Netherlands, France and England meet. Originally prepared and published as a backdrop for paleolithical geoarcheological research (Hijma et al. 2012; JQS), we are now expanding this with fieldwork in NW B...

For many thousands of years the alluvial plains of Khuzestan (SW Iran) have been subject to intensive settlement and agriculture. Ancient societies depended on the position of major rivers for their economic survival and hence, there is ample evidence of human activities trying to control the distribution of water. Throughout the plains ancient irr...

This study is concerned with the Late Holocene floodplain history of the Karkheh River in Lower Khuzestan, and in particular with the role of human action upon its channel shifts. The research was conducted in a multidisciplinary way, in which resources and approaches from different research fields were combined: (1) geomorphological mapping based...

A complex of salt lakes, fringing the Mediterranean Sea between Larnaca and Cape Kiti, marks the Larnaca coastal plain in Eastern Cyprus. The ancient city of Hala Sultan Tekke is situated directly to the west of the main salt lake, and has been abandoned at the end of the Late Bronze Age (LBA; ~1200 BC). Several hypotheses circulate with respect to...

A complex of salt lakes, fringing the Mediterranean Sea between Larnaca and Cape Kiti, marks the Larnaca coastal plain in Eastern Cyprus. The ancient city of Hala Sultan Tekke is situated directly to the west of the main salt lake, and has been abandoned at the end of the Late Bronze Age (LBA; ~1200 BC). Several hypotheses circulate with respect to...

This paper presents a multidisciplinary approach for studying the evolution of an alluvial fan system in Lower Khuzestan (SW Iran). The study draws on previously collected data from geological and archaeological field campaigns and new data derived from the interpretation of satellite imagery and historical textual sources. Three alluvial fans were...

During the late Holocene, an avulsion-controlled Karun megafan developed in the Lower Khuzestan plain. Based on the interpretation of satellite data, at least three different Karun channels were detected. A chronological framework is provided by archaeological sites and textual sources. The presence of extensive irrigation systems highlights the im...

Walstra, J., Heyvaert, V. M. A. & Verkinderen, P. 2009. Remote sensing for the study of fluvial landscapes in Lower Khuzestan, SW Iran. RSPSoc 2009 Annual Conference, 8-11 September 2009, Leicester, UK, 9 pp. (ISBN 0-946226-34-2).

Walstra, J., Heyvaert, V. M. A. & Verkinderen, P. 2008. Remote sensing for recording past landscapes of the Mesopotamian alluvial plain. 1st International EARSeL Workshop on Advances in Remote Sensing for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Management, 30 September – 4 October 2008, Rome, Italy, pp. 379-382 (ISBN 978-88-548-2030-2).

Geoarchaeological research was performed to reconstruct the floodplain history in the surroundings of two ancient Mesopotamian cities: Tell ed-Dēr and Sippar. The mapping of the floodplain is based on facies analyses of the sedimentary succession of 225 hand-operated boreholes. The archaeological sites Tell ed-Dēr and Sippar are closely linked to a...

The Holocene sequence of the Lower Khuzestan plain in southwest Iran has been investigated in the context of coastal evolution and relative sea-level change. A literature review about the coastal evolution of the Shatt-el Arab region with respect to relative sea-level changes is provided. The sedimentary succession in undisturbed hand-operated core...