Lake dwellers occupation gap in Lake Geneva (France–Switzerland) possibly explained by an earthquake–mass movement–tsunami event during Early Bronze Age

Kremer, Katrina; Marillier, François; Hilbe, Michael; Simpson, Guy; Dupuy, David; Yrro, Ble J.F.; Rachoud-Schneider, Anne-Marie; Corboud, Pierre; Bellwald, Benjamin; Wildi, Walter; Girardclos, Stéphanie

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.017

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Title		Lake dwellers occupation gap in Lake Geneva (France–Switzerland) possibly explained by an earthquake–mass movement–tsunami event during Early Bronze Age
Authors		Kremer, Katrina Marillier, François Hilbe, Michael Simpson, Guy Dupuy, David Yrro, Ble J.F. Rachoud-Schneider, Anne-Marie Corboud, Pierre Bellwald, Benjamin Wildi, Walter Girardclos, Stéphanie show all authors [1 - 11]
Published in		Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2014, vol. 385, p. 28-39
Abstract		High-resolution seismic and sediment core data from the ‘Grand Lac' basin of Lake Geneva reveal traces of repeated slope instabilities with one main slide-evolved mass-flow (minimum volume 0.13 km3) that originated from the northern lateral slope of the lake near the city of Lausanne. Radiocarbon dating of organic remains sampled from the top of the main deposit gives an age interval of 1865–1608 BC. This date coincides with the age interval for a mass movement event described in the ‘Petit Lac' basin of Lake Geneva (1872–1622 BC). Because multiple mass movements took place at the same time in different parts of the lake, we consider the most likely trigger mechanism to be a strong earthquake (Mw 6) that occurred in the period between 1872 and 1608 BC. Based on numerical simulations, we show the major deposit near Lausanne would have generated a tsunami with local wave heights of up to 6 m. The combined effects of the earthquake and the following tsunami provide a possible explanation for a gap in lake dwellers occupation along the shores of Lake Geneva revealed by dendrochronological dating of two palafitte archaeological sites
Keywords		Lake dwellers — Lake Geneva — Mass movement — Earthquake — Tsunami — Sediment record
Identifiers		DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.017
Full text		Article (Published version) (3.5 MB) - Free access Other version: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012821X1300527X
Structures		Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département F.-A. Forel des sciences de l'environnement et de l'eau Centres et instituts / Institut des sciences de l'environnement Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département des sciences de la Terre
Research groups		ISE Eau ISE Pôle Sciences Laboratory of Prehistoric Archeology and Anthropology Limnology and Environmental Geology Limnology and Geomicrobiology
Projects		FNS: 200021-121666 et R'Equip133790 Fondation Ernest et Lucie Schmidheiny; Fondation Ernest Boninchi
Citation (ISO format)		KREMER, Katrina et al. Lake dwellers occupation gap in Lake Geneva (France–Switzerland) possibly explained by an earthquake–mass movement–tsunami event during Early Bronze Age. In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2014, vol. 385, p. 28-39. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.017 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:31023