tivity on the carmel faul

statistical study indicated that the main direction of the collapsed soda straws was in
accordance with the E-W movement of the fault associated with the earthquake. Numerical
simulations confirmed that soda straw stalactites are relatively strong objects that may break
during earthquakes under certain conditions.
Kostov (2002) identified deformations in speleothems, with possible co-seismic origin in
two caves in the Balkan Range and Rhodope Mts. (Bulgaria). In Lepenitsa Cave, orientation of
68 broken stalagmites was measured and showed an expressed preference to be aligned with
the direction of the epicenters of the strongest known earthquakes in the area. This direction
did not coincide with the direction of flow in the caves sediments, which precludes an
assumption that they might have been displaced by sediment creep (Gilli et al., 1999).
Moreover, the stalagmites had fallen on a flat, stable, horizontal floor in a manner that excludes
the possibility of secondary deposition. Shepran Cave is situated about 55km to the southwest
of the epicenter of a 1928 Ms=7 earthquake, during which there were eyewitnesses to the
collapse of several speleothems. By 2001, several speleothems in this cave had a calcitic
growth on them. One of the maxima in the distribution of directions of the fallen stalagmites
corresponds to the epicenter of the earthquake.
Kagan et al. (2005) introduced a rigorously dated record of earthquakes from an
extensive number of well preserved pre- and post-seismic precipitates from caves located off
the Dead Sea Transform (DST) in the Judean Hills, near Jerusalem. Covering an 185ky
interval, they dated 38 seismite samples which they attributed to 13-18 earthquakes, with a
mean recurrence interval of ~10-14ky. They also showed that these events complement
independent, near-fault paleoseismic records. Seismites in the studied caves (at Har-Tuv and
Soreq) include collapsed stalagmites, stalactites, speleothem pillars and cave ceilings overlain
by re-growth, as well as stalagmites with severed tops and collapsed objects imbedded in
flowstone. In addition they noted an abundance of predominantly horizontal fissures in
speleothems and in the cave walls. Mapping of the Soreq Cave revealed preferential
orientations of collapsed long-axis speleothems which were oriented N-S and E-W. Dating
revealed the simultaneity of the collapses.
More than two thirds of the ages of seismites concur with ages derived from other
seismites presented in their study, which indicate that the record produced approximates the
actual distribution of destructive earthquakes. Moreover, six paleoseismic events that occurred
during the past 75ky are identified and dated by 20 damaged speleothems.
In work which started in 2001, Panno et al. (2006) studied two caves in southwestern
Illinois located within 250km of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) and within 150km of
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