Hayfaa's research aimed at establishing a Mediterranean-based Astronomical Polarity Time Scale (APTS) for the Middle Miocene, to be applied in tectonostratigraphic studies of the circum-Mediterranean region. The APTS will initially be constructed by using an integrated stratigraphic approach to the continental record of Spain. The Spanish results will allow a detailed comparison with the already existing (and ongoing) results of time-equivalent marine sequences of the Mediterranean, and are necessary to include the terrestrial record in the APTS. .

Previous (PhD) research

During my PhD-project, she has studied Miocene cyclically bedded distal alluvial- fan and shallow lacustrine successions from the Calatayud and Teruel Basins in NE Spain.

The main objective was to establish an integrated magneto-, cyclo- and (mammal) biostratigraphic framework for parts of the middle and late Miocene.

One of the study areas lies near the village Orera in the Calatayud Basin where well-exposed outcrops of cyclically bedded mudstone and carbonate were explored and investigated (see picture above). The outcome of this research resulted in the integrated stratigraphy of the Orera Composite Section (OCS), and in the extension of the astronomical polarity time scale (APTS) to ~13 Ma.
 

To show that the mudstone-carbonate cycles in the Orera area are astronomically forced, spectral analysis was done on proxy records, like colour reflectance and carbonate content of the OCS.

• Abels, H.A., Abdul Aziz, H., Krijgsman, W., Smeets, S.J.B. and Hilgen, F.J. (2010). Long-period eccentricity control on sedimentary sequences in the continental Madrid Basin (middle Miocene, Spain), Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 289, 220-231. 

• Abels, H.A., Abdul Aziz, H., Ventra, D. and Hilgen, F.J. (2009). Orbital climate forcing in mudflat to marginal lacustrine deposits in the Miocene Teruel Basin (Northeast Spain), J. Sed. Res., 79, 831-847. 

• Hüsing, S.K., Hilgen, F.J., Abdul Aziz, H. and Krijgsman, W. (2007). Completing the Neogene geological time scale between 8.5 and 12.5 Ma, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 253, 340-358 
• Vasiliev, I., Bakrac, K., Kovacic, M., Abdul Aziz, H. and Krijgsman, W. (2008). Palaeomagnetic Results from the Sarmatian/Pannonian Boundary in North-Eastern Croatia (Vranovic Section, Našice Quarry), Geologica Croatia, 60(2), 151-163 

• Van Dam, J.A., Abdul Aziz, H., Sierra, M.A.A., Hilgen, F.J., Ostende, L.W.V.D.H., Lourens, L.J., Mein, P., Meulen, A.J. van der & Pelaez-Campomanes, P. (2006). Long-period astronomical forcing of mammal turnover. Nature, 443, 687-691. 

• Hilgen, F.J, Abdul Aziz,  H., Bice, D., Iaccarino, S., Krijgsman, W., Kuiper, K.F., Montanari, A., Raffi, I., Turco, E., Zachariasse, W.J., (2005). The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Tortonian Stage (Upper Miocene) at Monte Dei Corvi, Episodes, 28, 6-17.

• Abdul Aziz, H., Van Dam, J., Hilgen, F.J. and Krijgsman, W. (2004). Astronomical forcing in Upper Miocene continental sequences: implications for the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 222, 243-258 
• Abdul Aziz, H. and Langereis, C.G. (2004). Astronomical Tuning and Duration of Three new Subchrons (C5r.2r-1n, C5r.2r-2n and C5r.3r-1n) Recorded in a Middle Miocene Continental Sequence From NE Spain. In: J.T.E. Channell et al. (eds), Timescales of the Paleomagnetic Field, Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 145 (AGU), 328 pp.  (proofs)

• Abdul Aziz, H., Hilgen, F.J., Wilson, D.S., Krijgsman, W. and Calvo, J.P (2003). An astronomical polarity time scale for the middle Miocene based on continental sequences, J. Geophys. Res., 108 (B3), 2159, doi: 10.1029 / 2002JB001818. 
• Abdul Aziz, H., Sanz-Rubio, E., Calvo, J.P., Hilgen, F.J. and Krijgsman, W. (2003). Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a middle Miocene proximal alluvial fan to cyclic shallow lacustrine depositonal system in the Calatayud Basin (NE Spain),  Sedimentology, 50, 211–236. 
• Hilgen, F.J., Abdul Aziz, H., Krijgsman, W., Raffi, I. and Turco, E. (2003). Integrated stratigraphy and astronomical tuning of the Serravallian and lower Tortonian at Monte dei Corvi (Middle-Upper Miocene, northern Italy), Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 199, 229-264. 

• Sanz-Rubio, E., Abdul Aziz, H., Calvo, J.P., Hilgen, F.J. and Krijgsman, W. (2001). Análisis sedimentológico y caracterización paleoclimática de la sucesión cíclica de Orera, Mioceno continental de la Cuenca de Calatayud. Geotemas, 3 (2), 85-90.
• Abdul Aziz, H. (2001). Astronomical forcing in continental sediments. An integrated stratigraphic study of Miocene deposits from the Calatayud and Teruel basins, NE Spain. (PhD thesis, Utrecht University), Geologica Ultraiectina, 207, 191 pp. 

• Abdul Aziz, H, Hilgen, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Sanz, E., and Calvo, J.P. (2000). Astronomical forcing of sedimentary cycles in the Middle to Late Miocene continental Calatayud Basin (NE Spain), Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 177, 9-22 

• Calvo, J.P., Abdul Aziz, H., Hilgen, F, Sanz-Rubio, E. and Krijgsman, W. (1999). The Orera section (Calatayud Basin, NE Spain): a remarkable cyclically bedded lacustrine succession from the Spanish Miocene. In: D. Barettino, M. Vallejo and E. Gallego (Eds.), Towards the Balanced Management and Conservation of the Geological Heritage in the New Millenium, 186-192.
• Hilgen, F.J., Abdul Aziz, H., Krijgsman, W., Langereis, C.G., Lourens, L.J., Meulenkamp, J.E., Raffi, I., Steenbrink, J., Turco, E., Van Vugt, N., Wijbrans, J.R. and Zachariasse, W.J. (1999). Present status of the astronomical (polarity) time-scale for the Mediterranean late Neogene, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, 357, 1-17.