This file was created by the TYPO3 extension publications --- Timezone: CEST Creation date: 2026-05-26 Creation time: 15:11:33 --- Number of references 79 article Lazar2024 The application of geophysical methods in saline environments is limited in their ability to discern shallow subsurface geology and tectonics due to the high subsurface conductivity, which can play havoc with the geophysical signal. Recent changes in the hypersaline Dead Sea provided the opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness and adequacy of the terrestrial frequency domain electromagnetic (henceforth FDEM) method in such settings. Since the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) 5017-3-C borehole was cored in 2011 in a water depth of ~2.1 m, the lake level has dropped by almost 15 m, exposing some 320 m of a new, salt-encrusted shore. An FDEM survey was carried out on what is now land across the borehole. The results of the survey were compared to downhole gamma ray logging data. Three lithologies were found based on gamma-ray cutoff values, and they are in agreement with changes in apparent electric conductivity. The FDEM survey supplied additional spatial information on the subsurface geology, highlighting areas of fluid flow and fracturing, which were found to be aligned with the trend of small strike-slip faults and earthquake clusters from previous studies. The FDEM method is a reliable way of discerning shallow subsurface geology, even in harsh conditions where other geophysical methods are limited. © 2024 by the authors. Article 2024 10.3390/rs16111978 Remote Sensing 16 Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) 11 Boreholes; C (programming language); Flow of fluids; Frequency domain analysis; Geophysics; Structural geology; Continental tectonics; Dead sea; Downhole methods; Extreme environment; Geophysical methods; Neotectonics; Saline environment; Shallow subsurface; Strike-slip and transform; Subsurface geology; Strike-slip faults https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85195995699&doi=10.3390%2frs16111978&partnerID=40&md5=5d917738dd88b8edce2287414c2af219 Cited by: 0; All Open Access, Gold Open Access Michael Lazar Linjing Cheng Uri Basson article Kearney2024 Article 2024 10.1038/s41598-024-59639-7 Scientific Reports 14 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85194900143&doi=10.1038%2fs41598-024-59639-7&partnerID=40&md5=54b0214098801fcfcc1a21a3e355e819 Cited by: 0; All Open Access, Gold Open Access Rebecca J. Kearney Markus J. Schwab Daniel Redant Ina Neugebauer Oona Appelt Cécile Blanchet Jan Fietzke Christina Günter Daniela J. M. Müller Rik Tjallingii Achim Brauer article RN96 2024 10.22498/pages.32.2.96 Past Global Changes Magazine 32 96-97 2 Nicolas Waldmann M. Stein DSDDP Scientific Party article Guillerm2023 The lake level of the Dead Sea, Southern Levant, has fluctuated with an amplitude of ∼250 m in response to the last glacial-interglacial cycle. This exceptional sensitivity to climate change, and the availability of long sedimentary archives, make the Dead Sea a benchmark for long quantitative paleohydrological reconstructions. However, discontinuities and chronological uncertainties in the marginal sedimentary record have hampered the reconstruction of Dead Sea lake levels beyond the Last Glacial (70–14 ka before present, BP). Here, we apply a two-pronged methodology. First, we measure the lake water density along ICDP deep core 5017-1-A using a new method, Brillouin spectroscopy on two-phase halite fluid inclusions; we combine it with the composition of pore water and the thickness of halite layers in the core to reconstruct lake level, volume, mass balance and subsidence rate. Second, we tune the chronology of lake levels from outcrops by matching it to the chronology of the deep core. The resulting lake level reconstruction, spanning 237–70 ka BP, is validated by the excellent agreement between outcrop- and mass balance-based methodologies. It shows a long-term recession of the lake, its level decreasing from one interglacial to the other, down to a Holocene record low. There are two reasons for this lake level fall. First, with an average rate of 2.65 ± 0.15 m/ka, subsidence has outpaced sedimentation at least over the last ∼130 ka. Second, by reducing the solute inventory of the lake, massive halite precipitation events such as that of 131–116 ka BP have durably increased surface water activity and evaporation, and thus lowered the lake level, up to today. Conversely, our analysis suggests that, during 191–11 ka BP, the dissolution of Mount Sedom salt diapir and freshwater inflows provided to the lake about three times the mass of solute NaCl contained in the modern Dead Sea (in 1985). This massive solute influx, occurring mainly during glacial highstands, strongly contributed to lowering surface water activity and evaporation and, therefore, to increasing the lake volume. Our results suggest that Dead Sea lake levels are more accurately interpreted in terms of climatic change if surface water activity is taken into account. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd 2023 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.107964 Quaternary Science Reviews 303 Elsevier Ltd Univ Lyon, Univ Lyon 1, ENSL, CNRS, LGL-TPE, Villeurbanne, F-69622, France; Institut Lumiére Matiére, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Universitaire de France, Villeurbanne, 69622, France; The Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue des Maraîchers 13, Geneva, Switzerland; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; BRGM, 3 Avenue C. Guillemin, Orléans, 45000, France Chloride minerals; Climate change; Evaporation; Fluid inclusion; Glacial geology; Lakes; Mineralogy; Sedimentology; Subsidence, Dead sea; Eastern Mediterranean; Fluid inclusion; Lake levels; Last glacial; Late quaternary; Mass balance; Southern levants; Water activity; Water evaporation, Sodium chloride, chronology; climate change; diapir; evaporation; freshwater; halite; Holocene; interglacial; lake level; lake water; Last Glacial; mass balance; sedimentation; solute; spectroscopy, Dead Sea; Israel; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Mount Sedom; Southern District https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85148943981&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2023.107964&partnerID=40&md5=1886084ab493d2796ab9b99692e78e41 cited By 0 E. Guillerm V. Gardien N.D. Waldmann N.S. Brall D. Ariztegui M.J. Schwab I. Neugebauer A. Lach F. Caupin article Jurikova2023 Well-known for their geological and natural singularity, the Dead Sea brines evolved from a marine ingression of the Mediterranean during the Pliocene. Dead Sea brines are currently almost ten times more concentrated than seawater and have a unique chemical composition with high boron isotope values (δ11Bbrine = ∼57‰). However, little is known on how these values were attained and their underlaying driving processes. Here we use boron isotopes (δ11B) combined with B/Ca and B/Li of lacustrine authigenic aragonites from the deep basin drill-core ICDP 5017-1, and Ein Gedi and Masada profiles to reconstruct past brine conditions. Comparing reconstructed δ11Bbrine from two key periods of contrasting hydro-climatic regimes we find that the brines of the late Holocene Dead Sea were enriched in 11B (δ11Bbrine = ∼60‰) relative to its glacial precursor Lake Lisan (∼57‰). With the aid of boron cycle modelling, we quantify the main boron fluxes in the basin. We show that the post-glacial δ11Bbrine enrichment is best explained by overall reduction of freshwater inflow to the lake and coeval increase in 10B sink through boron co-precipitation in evaporitic deposits and boron loss in atmospheric water vapour, consistent with the onset of warmer and drier climate in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Holocene. On geological time scales, adsorption of 10B on clastic sediments has acted as an important 10B sink and can explain the evolution of the high δ11Bbrine values. © 2023 The Author(s) Article 2023 10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118403 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 622 Elsevier B.V. Budget control; Glacial geology; Infill drilling; Isotopes; Lakes; Seawater; Authigenic; Boron cycle; Boron isotope budget; Boron isotopes; Lacustrine authigenic aragonite; Pleistocene; Pleistocene lake lisan; Pliocene; Pliocene sedom lagoon; Seawater evolution; aragonite; authigenic mineral; boron; brine; concentration (composition); geochemistry; lacustrine environment; seawater; Boron https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85172727894&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2023.118403&partnerID=40&md5=2fef2ad527e726ff88ffc30bcf0b7f84 Cited by: 4; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Hana Jurikova Simon J. Ring Michael J. Henehan Ina Neugebauer Birgit Schröder Daniela Müller Markus J. Schwab Rik Tjallingii Achim Brauer Cécile Blanchet article Frumkin2022 The southern Levant region at the fringe of the Saharan-Arabian deserts is particularly vulnerable to warming and desertification, therefore reconstruction of the hydroclimate conditions of this region during periods of past climate change provide important insight on what may occur in the future. Here we report on high temporal resolution 87Sr/86Sr, δ13C and δ18O isotope data of a stalagmite from the Har Nof cave in Jerusalem, demonstrating major climate changes during the last interglacial MIS5e between ~131–116 ka. We combine also data from other caves in Israel and the ICDP Dead Sea deep drill core. The following palaeoenvironmental history is observed: • At 131–127.5 ka, Jerusalem experienced moderate Mediterranean climate conditions. Desert dust accumulated above the cave, while salt deposition occurred in the Dead Sea. • At 127.5–122 ka, across the MIS5e insolation peak and Sapropel S5 interval in the Mediterranean, highly negative speleothem δ18O indicate both Mediterranean and southern (tropical) derived rains. Surface cover diminished, and by 122 ka the 87Sr/86Sr and δ13C values indicate complete soil removal above the cave. Very high temperatures and intensive fires caused the removal of C3 vegetation. The rainfall season shifted from winter to summer with tropical-sourced precipitation. • At 122–120.5 ka, the 87Sr/86Sr ratios indicate contributions of sea salts. Extremely high speleothem δ13C values indicate no vegetation. • At ~120.5–118 ka there was higher rainfall and lower temperatures, associated with re-establishment of vegetation, including savannah-like C4 pioneer grasses that appeared on soil patches. • At 118–116 ka, the sedimentation rate of Har Nof AF12 stalagmite is extremely low, indicating regional aridity, coinciding with massive salt deposition in the Dead Sea. © 2021 Elsevier B.V. 2022 English 00310182 10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110761 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 586 Elsevier B.V. Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem91904, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yesha'ayahu Leibowitz, Jerusalem, 9371234, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, United States climate change; environmental conditions; interglacial; isotopic ratio; Last Interglacial; precipitation (climatology); rainfall; reconstruction; sedimentation; sedimentation rate; speleothem; stalagmite, Dead Sea; Israel; Jerusalem [Israel]; Levant; Mediterranean Region, Poaceae https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85120318066&doi=10.1016%2fj.palaeo.2021.110761&partnerID=40&md5=17badeb966dccc5b7c16125a3bb2dd8c cited By 1 A. Frumkin M. Stein S.L. Goldstein article Levy2022518 The hypersaline Dead Sea and its sediments are natural laboratories for studying extremophile microorganism habitat response to environmental change. In modern times, increased freshwater runoff to the lake surface waters resulted in stratification and dilution of the upper water column followed by microbial blooms. However, whether these events facilitated a microbial response in the deep lake and sediments is obscure. Here we investigate archived evidence of microbial processes and changing regional hydroclimate conditions by reconstructing deep Dead Sea chemical compositions from pore fluid major ion concentration and stable S, O, and C isotopes, together with lipid biomarkers preserved in the hypersaline deep Dead Sea ICDP-drilled core sediments dating to the early Holocene (ca. 10,000 years BP). Following a significant negative lake water balance resulting in salt layer deposits at the start of the Holocene, there was a general period of positive net water balance at 9500–8300 years BP. The pore fluid isotopic composition of sulfate exhibit evidence of intensified microbial sulfate reduction, where both (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.) of sulfate show a sharp increase from estimated base values of 15.0‰ and 13.9‰ to 40.2‰ and 20.4‰, respectively, and a (Formula presented.) vs. (Formula presented.) slope of 0.26. The presence of the n-C17 alkane biomarker in the sediments suggests an increase of cyanobacteria or phytoplankton contribution to the bulk organic matter that reached the deepest parts of the Dead Sea. Although hydrologically disconnected, both the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea microbial ecosystems responded to increased freshwater runoff during the early Holocene, with the former depositing the organic-rich sapropel 1 layer due to anoxic water column conditions. In the Dead Sea prolonged positive net water balance facilitated primary production and algal blooms in the upper waters and intensified microbial sulfate reduction in the hypolimnion and/or at the sediment–brine interface. © 2022 The Authors. Geobiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2022 English 14724677 10.1111/gbi.12493 Geobiology 20 John Wiley and Sons Inc 518-532 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Climate Geochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Eilat, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Univ. Lyon 1, CNRS, ENSL, Villeurbanne, France 4 biomarker; cyanobacterium; Holocene; isotopic composition; lipid; microbial activity; phytoplankton; reduction; sapropel; stable isotope; sulfate, Dead Sea; Mediterranean Sea, benzopyran derivative; sapropel; sulfate; water, chemistry; ecosystem; humic substance; lake; sediment, Benzopyrans; Ecosystem; Geologic Sediments; Humic Substances; Lakes; Sulfates; Water https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85127735070&doi=10.1111%2fgbi.12493&partnerID=40&md5=15613359a3d0b86f5bb4a41459a70ae8 cited By 0 E.J. Levy C. Thomas G. Antler I. Gavrieli A. Turchyn V. Grossi D. Ariztegui O. Sivan article Tierney2022 The eastern Mediterranean is projected to experience increases in drought and extreme rainfall in response to rising greenhouse gas emissions. Paleoclimate records from this region are crucial to further constrain the response of the water cycle to a globally warmer climate. Of these, the Dead Sea lacustrine record, collected by the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project (DSDDP), provides a detailed history of climate change over the past 200,000 years and documents large-magnitude changes in regional water balance. Here, we analyze leaf wax isotopes (δDwax, δ13Cwax) on DSDDP 5017-1 and compare results to other proxies analyzed on the same core. The δDwax record closely resembles the speleothem δ18O record from nearby Soreq Cave, suggesting that both record a regionally coherent signature of glacial-interglacial cycles and the interplay between winter season rainfall and large-scale expansion and contraction of the Afro-Asian monsoon system. Principal components analysis of the pollen and core lithology shows that the first-order driver of variability in the Dead Sea paleoclimate record is global temperature, which controls effective moisture by modulating atmospheric evaporative demand. Leaf wax, pollen, and core lithology all suggest radical changes in the annual cycle of precipitation during the peak of the Last Interglacial. We hypothesize that the Dead Sea Basin experienced a dual-rainfall regime during this time, with intensified winter storms and a summer monsoon season. While these changes were driven by the Earth's precessional cycle, model simulations suggest a similar expansion of the African monsoon domain into the Arabian Peninsula under elevated CO2 levels. The Last Interglacial climate of the DSB provides a glimpse of what future climate in the southeastern Mediterranean region could look like. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd 2022 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107613 Quaternary Science Reviews 289 Elsevier Ltd Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1040 E 4th St., Tucson, AZ 85721, United States; The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, 88103, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13210, United States Atmospheric thermodynamics; Climate change; Expansion; Gas emissions; Greenhouse gases; Lithology; Principal component analysis; Rain; Storms, Dead sea; Deep drilling; Drilling projects; Isotope of precipitation; Last interglacial; Leaf wax; Levant climate; Paleoclimate records; Pollen; δD, Isotopes, annual cycle; climate change; drought; greenhouse gas; historical record; hydrological cycle; hydrometeorology; Last Interglacial; paleoclimate; pollen; precipitation (chemistry); Quaternary; speleothem; wax, Arabian Peninsula; Dead Sea; Israel; Jerusalem [Israel]; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Soreq Cave https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85132811081&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2022.107613&partnerID=40&md5=c6cf1c6df269962adf3e26ebf98c31c8 cited By 1 J.E. Tierney A. Torfstein T. Bhattacharya article Müller2022 Article 2022 10.1038/s41598-022-10217-9 Scientific Reports 12 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85128908758&doi=10.1038%2fs41598-022-10217-9&partnerID=40&md5=6a0f4f9158bb51f6ab827081eb545e2b Cited by: 10; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Daniela Müller Ina Neugebauer Yoav Ben Dor Yehouda Enzel Markus J. Schwab Rik Tjallingii Achim Brauer article Lu2022 In lakes and oceans, links between modern sediment density flow processes and deposits preserved in long-term geological records are poorly understood. Consequently, it is unclear whether, and if so how, long-term climate changes affect the magnitude/frequency of sediment density flows. One approach to answering this question is to analyze a comprehensive geological record that comprises deposits that can be reliably linked to modern sediment flow processes. To address this question, we investigated the unique ICDP Core 5017-1 from the Dead Sea (the largest and deepest hypersaline lake on the Earth) depocenter covering MIS 7-1. Based on an understanding of modern sediment density flow processes in the lake, we link homogeneous muds in the core to overflows (surface flood plumes, ρflow<ρwater), and link graded turbidites and debrites to underflows (ρflow>ρwater). Our dataset reveals (1) overflows are more prominent during interglacials, while underflows are more prominent during glacials; (2) orbital-scale climate changes affected the flow magnitude/frequency via changing salinity and density profile of lake brine, lake-level, and source materials. © 2022 The Author(s) 2022 English 0012821X 10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117723 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 594 Elsevier B.V. Institute of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria; Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom; Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, Israel; Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel Climate change; Deposits; Floods; Glacial geology; Orbits; Sediment transport; Stratigraphy, Dead sea; Flash-floods; Flood plumes; Flow process; Geological record; Hypersaline lakes; Sediment density flows; Sediment transport process; Turbidite; Underflows, Lakes, climate change; density; flash flood; geological record; hypersaline environment; lake level; plume; salinity; sediment transport; stratigraphy; turbidite, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85134696043&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2022.117723&partnerID=40&md5=88c5f0404460bae8eeaca46c16e6c0c8 cited By 1 Y. Lu E.L. Pope J. Moernaut R. Bookman N. Waldmann A. Agnon S. Marco M. Strasser article Lu2022617 Sharp changes in lithology and increases in grain size and sedimentation rate of sedimentary sequences from tectonically active basins are often used to indicate regional neotectonic activity. However, these conventional methods have been challenged by others who argue that the sedimentary evidence used to infer tectonism could be climatically induced. Therefore, some form of independent evidence or sedimentary criteria are required to discriminate between these two alternatives. Seismites, sedimentary structures preserved in lacustrine or marine stratigraphic sequences caused by seismic shaking, are reliable indicators of regional neotectonic activity. Lacustrine/Marine paleoseismology, an emerging cross-field, can extend the record of strong earthquakes and deepen the understanding of fault zone activity by studying seismites preserved in subaqueous sedimentary sequences. In this paper, we use the Dead Sea Basin and Qaidam Basin as examples to understand regional neotectonic activity from the perspective of subaqueous paleoseismology. The Dead Sea Basin is the deepest and largest continental tectonic structure in the world. A 457 m deep core(ICDP Core 5017-1)was recovered from the Dead Sea depocenter(31°30′29″N, 35°28′16″E) during 2010~2011. The bottom of the core was dated back to 220 ka. In situ folded layers and intraclast breccia layer in the core are identified as earthquake indicators, based on their resemblance to the lake outcrop observations of seismites that are known to be earthquake-induced. Based on the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, we model the ground acceleration needed to produce each seismite by using the physical properties of the Dead Sea deposits. We invert acceleration for earthquake magnitude by considering regional earthquake ground motion attenuation, fault geometry, and other constraints. Based on the magnitude constraints, we develop a 220 ka-long record of MW ≥7 earthquakes. The record comprises 151 MW ≥7 events. The record shows a clustered earthquake recurrence pattern and a group-fault temporal clustering model, and reveals an unexpectedly high seismicity rate on a slow-slipping plate boundary. The Qaidam Basin is the largest topographic depression on the Tibetan Plateau that was formed by the ongoing India-Asia collision. The northeastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau formed a series of sub-parallel NW-SE-trending folds over a distance of ca. 300 km in the western Qaidam Basin. A 723 m deep core was drilled in the basin on the crest of one such fold, the Jianshan Anticline(38°21′9.46″N, 92°16′24.72″E) during 2010~2011. In this study, we focus on the upper 260 m of the core. Paleomagnetic dating constrains the age of the studied core interval to ca. 3.6~1.6 Ma. Sedimentological analysis reveals micro-faults, soft-sediment deformation, slumps, and detachment surfaces preserved in the core interval, which we interpret as paleoearthquake indicators. We recover a 2-Ma seismite sequence comprising 164 MW ≥5 events. The seismite sequence is relatively more complete during 3.6~2.7 Ma, which comprises 126 events and five seismite clusters. This suggests that the rate of tectonic strain accommodated by the folds/thrusts in the region varies in time and thus reveals episodic local deformation. During the clusters, regional deformation is concentrated more in the fold-and-thrust system than along regional major strike-slip faults. © 2022, Science Press (China). All rights reserved. 2022 Chinese 10017410 10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2022.03.01 Quaternary Sciences 42 Science Press (China) 617-636 Department of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, 9692100, Israel; Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel; State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research(TPESRE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; Key Laboratory of Continental Collision and Plateau Uplift, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China 3 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85136778232&doi=10.11928%2fj.issn.1001-7410.2022.03.01&partnerID=40&md5=c7b30250e81c500efcc3cdb0e3dd461a cited By 0 Y. Lu N. Wetzler S. Marco X. Fang article Lu2021 The seismic origin of turbidites is verified either by correlating such layers to historic earthquakes, or by demonstrating their synchronous deposition in widely spaced, isolated depocenters. A historic correlation could thus constrain the seismic intensity required for triggering turbidites. However, historic calibration is not applicable to prehistoric turbidites. In addition, the synchronous deposition of turbidites is difficult to test if only one deep core is drilled in a depocenter. Here, we propose a new approach that involves analyzing the underlying in situ deformations of prehistoric turbidites, as recorded in a 457 m-long core from the Dead Sea center, to establish their seismic origin. These in situ deformations have been verified as seismites and could thus authenticate the trigger for each overlying turbidite. Moreover, our high-resolution chemical and sedimentological data validate a previous hypothesis that soft-sediment deformation in the Dead Sea formed at the sediment-water interface. © 2020. The Authors. 2021 English 00948276 10.1029/2020GL090947 Geophysical Research Letters 48 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Department of Geography, University of Liege, Liège, Belgium; Department of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; The Neev Center for Geoinfomatics, Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom 3 Deformation; Deposition, Dead sea basins; High resolution; Sediment water interface; Sedimentological data; Seismic intensity; Seismic origin; Situ deformation; Soft-sediment deformation, Earthquakes https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85100961710&doi=10.1029%2f2020GL090947&partnerID=40&md5=9213e6d48716e1fbe08566cb64319e47 cited By 14 Y. Lu J. Moernaut R. Bookman N. Waldmann N. Wetzler A. Agnon S. Marco G.I. Alsop M. Strasser A. Hubert-Ferrari article Neugebauer2021844 Due to a lack of visible tephras in the Dead Sea record, this unique palaeoenvironmental archive is largely unconnected to the well-established Mediterranean tephrostratigraphy. Here we present first results of the ongoing search for cryptotephras in the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) sediment core from the deep Dead Sea basin. This study focusses on the Lateglacial (~15–11.4 cal. ka BP), when Lake Lisan – the precursor of the Dead Sea – shrank from its glacial highstand to the Holocene low levels. We developed a glass shard separation protocol and counting procedure that is adapted to the extreme salinity and sediment recycling of the Dead Sea. Cryptotephra is abundant in the Dead Sea record (up to ~100 shards cm-3), but often glasses are physically and/or chemically altered. Six glass samples from five tephra horizons reveal a heterogeneous geochemical composition, with mainly rhyolitic and some trachytic glasses potentially sourced from Italian, Aegean and Anatolian volcanoes. Most shards likely originate from the eastern Anatolian volcanic province and can be correlated using major element analyses with tephra deposits from swarm eruptions of the Süphan Volcano ~13 ka BP and with ashes from Nemrut Volcano, presumably the Lake Van V-16 volcanic layer at ~13.8 ka BP. In addition to glasses that match the TM-10-1 from Lago Grande di Monticchio (15 820±790 cal. a BP) tentatively correlated with the St. Angelo Tuff of Ischia, we further identified a cryptotephra with glass analyses which are chemically identical with those of the PhT1 tephra in the Philippon peat record (13.9–10.5 ka BP), and also a compositional match for the glass analyses of the Santorini Cape Riva Tephra (Y-2 marine tephra, 22 024±642 cal. a BP). These first results demonstrate the great potential of cryptotephrochronology in the Dead Sea record for improving its chronology and connecting the Levantine region to the Mediterranean tephra framework. © 2021 The Authors. Boreas published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Boreas Collegium. 2021 English 03009483 10.1111/bor.12516 Boreas 50 John Wiley and Sons Inc 844-861 Section Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24–25, Potsdam, 14476, Germany; Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom; Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, United Kingdom; School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 3HE, United Kingdom; Section Chemistry and Physics of Earth Materials, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany 3 geological record; Holocene; KTB borehole; late glacial; paleoenvironment; sediment core; tephra; tephrochronology, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85101821823&doi=10.1111%2fbor.12516&partnerID=40&md5=38ce84aa56ff87a1629cf0f73ac85a5a cited By 3 I. Neugebauer D. Müller M.J. Schwab S. Blockley C.S. Lane S. Wulf O. Appelt A. Brauer article Rinat2021917 Article 2021 10.5194/nhess-21-917-2021 Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 21 917 – 939 3 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85102368181&doi=10.5194%2fnhess-21-917-2021&partnerID=40&md5=ade02ff218d9ab591c8e41c474fb24d1 Cited by: 25; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Yair Rinat Francesco Marra Moshe Armon Asher Metzger Yoav Levi Pavel Khain Elyakom Vadislavsky Marcelo Rosensaft Efrat Morin article Lu2021 Article 2021 10.1029/2021GL093391 Geophysical Research Letters 48 14 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85111502839&doi=10.1029%2f2021GL093391&partnerID=40&md5=4c22dd648eb969687a9ab6658995ef13 Cited by: 13; All Open Access, Green Open Access, Hybrid Gold Open Access Yin Lu Jasper Moernaut Nicolas Waldmann Revital Bookman G. Ian Alsop Aurélia Hubert-Ferrari Michael Strasser Amotz Agnon Shmuel Marco article BenDor2021 Article 2021 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2021.120261 Chemical Geology 576 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85104955540&doi=10.1016%2fj.chemgeo.2021.120261&partnerID=40&md5=995516923ec8640748325fb166657d7d Cited by: 14 Yoav Ben Dor Tomer Flax Itamar Levitan Yehouda Enzel Achim Brauer Yigal Erel article Zoccatelli2020 Article 2020 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124879 Journal of Hydrology 587 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85083334024&doi=10.1016%2fj.jhydrol.2020.124879&partnerID=40&md5=ab0e3da756b02e67827cba2276f8eb6e Cited by: 12 D. Zoccatelli F. Marra J. Smith D. Goodrich C. Unkrich M. Rosensaft E. Morin article Stein2020 2020 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106639 Quaternary Science Reviews 249 Elsevier Ltd Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 32, Yesha'yahu Leibowitz, Street, Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States deep drilling; deep sea; maintenance; paleoenvironment; reconstruction https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85092914567&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2020.106639&partnerID=40&md5=cbd580cad6442bbb61ad887898151296 cited By 2 M. Stein S.L. Goldstein article Goldstein2020 The Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project drilled 456 meters into the deepest floor of the Dead Sea and recovered a record of the past ∼220 kyr of the Levant hydroclimate history, that is, Marine Isotope Stages 1–7, including the last three interglacials and the last two glacials. We present an updated chronology of the core from DSDDP Hole 5017-1-A, from the Dead Sea's deepest basin, that refines our previous chronology (Torfstein et al. 2015) based on new information. The updated chronology uses the following approaches: (1) radiocarbon ages of Kitagawa et al. (2017); (2) correlation of specific layers in the core with U–Th-dated sediments on the Dead Sea margin, particularly during the interval of glacial Lake Lisan (MIS 2,3,4); (3) tuning of the δ18O data of DSDDP core aragonite to the U–Th dated oxygen isotopes of regional cave speleothems; and (4) tuning of the DSDDP aragonite δ18O data to summer insolation curves when the cave δ18O chronology is less clear. The updated chronology reveals a strong relationship between the sedimentary facies comprising the core and Northern Hemisphere summer insolation variations. It shows that sequences of sediments marking drier/wetter/drier climate conditions in the lake's watershed (e.g., salt/muds/salt, respectively) appear across the flank/peak/flank segments of several summer insolation peaks. In particular, the transition from drier to wetter sedimentary facies during mid-latitude insolation peaks coincides with the intervals of sapropel conditions in the Mediterranean, reflecting enhanced Nile flow due to intense African monsoonal conditions, and marking the impact of the tropical precession cycles on Eastern Mediterranean hydroclimate. This pattern was lost during MIS 2,3,4, when mostly sequences of primary aragonite are punctuated by gypsum precipitation during Heinrich events, marking the strong impact of the North Atlantic on the last glacial Levant hydroclimate. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd 2020 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106460 Quaternary Science Reviews 244 Elsevier Ltd Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; The Fredy and Nadine Hermann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Coral Beach, Eilat, 88103, Israel; Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan University of Nagoya, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan; Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1040 E 4th St, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States; Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yashayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel Carbonate minerals; Caves; Driers (materials); Glacial geology; Incident solar radiation; Infill drilling; Isotopes; Lakes; Sedimentology, Climate condition; Eastern Mediterranean; Gypsum precipitation; Heinrich Events; Marine isotope stages; Northern Hemispheres; Oxygen isotopes; Sedimentary facies, Core drilling, aragonite; chronology; climate conditions; climate cycle; Deep Sea Drilling Project; hydrometeorology; insolation; marine isotope stage; Northern Hemisphere; watershed; wetting-drying cycle, Atlantic Ocean; Atlantic Ocean (North); Dead Sea; Mediterranean Sea; Mediterranean Sea (East) https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85089277951&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2020.106460&partnerID=40&md5=adaf008c3188a277cc71cdbaa6cdca0d cited By 18 S.L. Goldstein Y. Kiro A. Torfstein H. Kitagawa J. Tierney M. Stein article Metzger2020 Article 2020 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125254 Journal of Hydrology 590 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85088019197&doi=10.1016%2fj.jhydrol.2020.125254&partnerID=40&md5=f26aaf56e09b5097c3bee3b47e933d8b Cited by: 33 Asher Metzger Francesco Marra James A. Smith Efrat Morin article Lu2020 Recording and analyzing how climate change impacts flood recurrence, basin erosion, and sedimentation can improve our understanding of these systems. The aragonite-detritus laminae couplets comprising the lacustrine formations that were deposited in the Dead Sea are considered as faithful monitors of the freshwater supply to the lakes. We count a total of ∼5600 laminae couplets deposited in the last 45 kyr (MIS3-MIS1) at the Dead Sea center, which encompass the upper 142 m of the ICDP Core 5017-1. The present study shows that aragonite and detritus laminae are thinner and occur at high frequency during MIS 3-2, while they are much thicker and less frequent during MIS 1. By analyzing multiple climate-connected factors, we propose that significant lake-level drops, enhanced dust input, and low vegetative cover in the drainage basin during the last deglaciation (22-11.6 ka) have considerably increased erodible materials in the Dead Sea watershed. We find a decoupling existed between the significant lake-level drop/lake size reduction and lamina thickness change during the last deglaciation. We argue that during the Last Glacial and the Holocene, the variation of lamina thickness at the multiple-millennium scale was not controlled directly by the lake-level/size change. We interpret this decoupling implying the transport capacity of flash-floods is low and might be saturated by the oversupply of erodible materials, and indicating a transport-limited regime during the time period. We suggest the observed thickness and frequency distribution of aragonite-detritus laminae points to the high frequency of small-magnitude floods during the Last Glacial, in contrast to low frequency, but large-magnitude floods during the Holocene. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2020 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143 Quaternary Science Reviews 229 Elsevier Ltd Sedimentology and Marine Paleoenvironmental Dynamics Group, Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany; Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel3498838, Israel; Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel Carbonate minerals; Catchments; Drops; Erosion; Floods; Glacial geology; Lakes; Paleolimnology; Seawater, Aragonite-detritus laminae; Dead sea; Flash flood; Magnitude-frequency; Transport-limited regime, Climate change, basin analysis; climate change; climate effect; erosion; flash flood; flood; flood frequency; historical record; Holocene; Last Glacial; magnitude; marine isotope stage; paleolimnology; sedimentation, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85076924820&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.106143&partnerID=40&md5=7927e1d5c8f48e9b3d2842b264a7a0aa cited By 13 Y. Lu R. Bookman N. Waldmann S. Marco article Weber20201453 Article 2020 10.1017/RDC.2020.28 Radiocarbon 62 1453 – 1473 5 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85095988340&doi=10.1017%2fRDC.2020.28&partnerID=40&md5=394068751f112624ae21c870df24d8d1 Cited by: 1 Nurit Weber Boaz Lazar Ofra Stern George Burr Ittai Gavrieli Mark Roberts Mark D Kurz Yoseph Yechieli Mordechai Stein article Coianiz2020636 The Dead Sea is an extensional basin developing along a transform fault plate boundary. It is also a terminal salt basin. Without knowledge of precise stratigraphy, it is difficult to differentiate between the role of plate and salt tectonics on sedimentary accumulation and deformation patterns. While the environmental conditions responsible for sediment supply are reasonably constrained by previous studies on the lake margins, the current study focuses on deciphering the detailed stratigraphy across the entire northern Dead Sea basin as well as syn and post-depositional processes. The sedimentary architecture of the late Quaternary lacustrine succession was examined by integrating 851 km of seismic reflection data from three surveys with gamma ray and velocity logs and the stratigraphic division from an ICDP borehole cored in 2010. This allowed seismic interpretation to be anchored in time across the entire basin. Key surfaces were mapped based on borehole lithology and a newly constructed synthetic seismogram. Average interval velocities were used to calculate isopach maps and spatial and temporal sedimentation rates. Results show that the Amora Formation was deposited in a pre-existing graben bounded by two N-S trending longitudinal faults. Both faults remained active during deposition of the late Pleistocene Samra and Lisan Formations—the eastern fault continued to bound the basin while the western fault remained blind. On-going plate motion introduced a third longitudinal fault, increasing accommodation space westwards from the onset of deposition of the Samra Formation. During accumulation of these two formations, sedimentation rates were uniform over the lake and similar. High lake levels caused an increase in hydrostatic pressure. This led to salt withdrawal, which flowed to the south and southwest causing increased uplift of the Lisan and En Gedi diapirs and the formation of localized salt rim synclines. This induced local seismicity and slumping, resulting in an increased thickness of the Lisan succession within the lake relative to its margins. Sedimentation rates of the Holocene Ze'elim Fm were 4–5 times higher than before. The analysis presented here resolves central questions of spatial extent and timing of lithology, deposition rates and their variability across the basin, timing of faulting at and below the lake floor, and timing and extent of salt and plate tectonic phases and their effect on syn and post-depositional processes. Plate tectonics dictated the structure of the basin, while salt tectonics and sediment accumulation were primarily responsible for its fill architecture during the timeframe examined here. © 2019 The Authors. Basin Research © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists 2020 English 0950091X 10.1111/bre.12387 Basin Research 32 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 636-651 Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel 4 deformation mechanism; neotectonics; plate boundary; plate motion; plate tectonics; Quaternary; salt tectonics; sedimentation rate; seismic reflection; stratigraphy; structural control; structural geology, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85081317927&doi=10.1111%2fbre.12387&partnerID=40&md5=e1b3f1e51261492070f2d3e5e069dfbb cited By 2 L. Coianiz U. Schattner G. Lang Z. Ben-Avraham M. Lazar article Palchan2019395 The mineralogical, grain size and geochemical properties (e.g., Nd and Sr isotopes, Mg/Al ratios) of fine detritus that accumulated in the Dead Sea during the late Glacial to early Holocene time (∼22–7 ka) are used to identify its sources and modes of transport and to reconstruct the hydroclimate conditions in the Dead Sea watershed. Samples were retrieved from the DSDDP -5017-1A core that was drilled in the deep floor of the lake, and from various exposures of surface cover in the lake's watershed. The data show that during most of the late glacial, detrital particles were either directly blown mostly from the north Sahara Desert or were washed from the surface cover (loessial soils) of the north Negev Desert and Judea Desert. This picture changed during the end of the last glacial to the early Holocene (∼14 - 7 ka) when the fine detritus showed evidence for contribution from surface cover that contained basaltic soils. The contribution of basaltic soils to the fine detritus inventory of the Dead Sea and to terraces in the Jordan Valley, indicates a period of intense erosion in the northern highlands of the Dead Sea watershed, at an interval that partly coincides with Sapropel S1. In contrast, during the last interglacial Sapropel S5, fine detritus was mostly mobilized to the lake from southern and eastern region of the watershed. The formation and accumulation of terraces from this basaltic-derived material could be an important factor in the establishment of early agriculture settlements in the Jordan Valley. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.05.028 Quaternary Science Reviews 218 Elsevier Ltd 395-405 Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, Israel Basalt; Glacial geology; Lakes; Seawater; Soils; Watersheds, Basaltic soils; Dead sea basins; Derived materials; Early Holocene; Eastern regions; Geochemical properties; Jordan valley; Last interglacial, Landforms, basalt; detritus; fine grained sediment; grain size; Holocene; late glacial; mobilization; sapropel; seafloor; submarine terrace, Dead Sea; Israel; Jordan Valley; Negev; Sahara; Southern District https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85068875659&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.05.028&partnerID=40&md5=ed2cb6dbdbb78897820fb7db062e0cbb cited By 12 D. Palchan Y. Erel M. Stein article BenDor2019173 The sedimentary record of the Dead Sea provides an exceptional high-resolution archive of past climate changes in the drought-sensitive eastern Mediterranean-Levant, a key region for the development of humankind at the boundary of global climate belts. Moreover, it is the only deep hypersaline lake known to have deposited long sequences of finely laminated, annually deposited sediments (i.e. varves) of varied compositions, including aragonite, gypsum, halite and clastic sediments. Vast efforts have been made over the years to decipher the environmental information stored in these evaporitic-clastic sequences spanning from the Pleistocene Lake Amora to the Holocene Dead Sea. A general characterisation of sediment facies has been derived from exposed sediment sections, as well as from shallow- and deep-water sediment cores. During high lake stands and episodes of positive water budget, mostly during glacial times, alternating aragonite and detritus laminae (‘aad’ facies) were accumulated, whereas during low lake stands and droughts, prevailing during interglacials, laminated detritus (‘ld’ facies) and laminated halite (‘lh’ facies) dominate the sequence. In this paper, we (i) review the three types of laminated sediments of the Dead Sea sedimentary record (‘aad’, ‘ld’ and ‘lh’ facies), (ii) discuss their modes of formation, deposition and accumulation, and their interpretation as varves, and (iii) illustrate how Dead Sea varves are utilized for palaeoclimate reconstructions and for establishing floating chronologies. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.04.011 Quaternary Science Reviews 215 Elsevier Ltd 173-184 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; University of Geneva, Department of Earth Sciences, Rue des Maraichers 13, Geneva, CH-1205, Switzerland; Potsdam University, Department of Earth Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24/25, Potsdam, 14476, Germany Budget control; Carbonate minerals; Chloride minerals; Climate change; Deposition; Drought; Lakes; Sedimentology; Sodium chloride, Deep drilling; Evaporitic varves; Hypersaline lakes; Lacustrine sediments; Palaeoclimate reconstruction; Varve chronologies, Sediments, chronology; deep drilling; drought; global climate; historical record; hypersaline environment; lacustrine deposit; marine sediment; paleoclimate; Pleistocene; reconstruction; sediment core; varve; water budget, Dead Sea; Levant; Mediterranean Region https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85066102108&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.04.011&partnerID=40&md5=80dea6b87f37f885c6dcd9632ea3f0b8 cited By 26 Y. Ben Dor I. Neugebauer Y. Enzel M.J. Schwab R. Tjallingii Y. Erel A. Brauer article Coianiz201915 The sedimentary sequences that accumulated within various lakes that occupied the Dead Sea Basin since the Pliocene, contain a detailed record of the climate and tectonic history of the area. Until recently, most of the information about these paleo-lakes was derived from exposures along the marginal terraces of the current Dead Sea (lake), focusing mainly on the last Glacial Lake Lisan and the Holocene-modern Dead Sea. The International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) recovered a series of cores in the northern Dead Sea Basin, both in the deep depocenter (300 m water depth) and in shallower waters near the current shore. Here, we present downhole logging measurements that were used to provide continuous records of petrophysical properties at depth and to reconstruct lithological profiles. The study highlights how logging data can overcome gaps in drilled-core recovery and be used to examine subsurface geology on a regional scale. Gamma ray, resistivity and velocity wire logs were examined to infer a log-derived lithofacies. The reconstructed profiles presented in this study constitute a first attempt to link deep central settings of the basin with marginal sedimentary sequences. Three main facies were identified in the boreholes including: (Bartov et al., 2002) Finely laminated sequences of mudstones interbedded with siltstones to sandstones; (Bartov et al., 2003) Medium to thick bedded mudstone to sandstone: and (Bartov et al., 2007) Evaporites (e.g. halite and gypsum with some intervals of detrital sediments). The formations that were previously defined along the marginal terraces of the Dead Sea: the Holocene Ze'elim Formation, the last Glacial Lisan Formation, the last interglacial Samra Formation and the early to mid-Pleistocene Amora Formation are identified in the boreholes. A spatial correlation is established providing the stratigraphic architecture of the sedimentary structure beneath the Dead Sea during the late Quaternary. This paper combines geophysical and lithological data and provides the base for subsequent studies on facies interpretation. © 2018 Elsevier B.V. 2019 English 09269851 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2018.11.002 Journal of Applied Geophysics 160 Elsevier B.V. 15-27 Dr. Mosses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 3498838, Israel; Mediterranean Sea Research Centre of Israel (MERCI), University of Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, Israel; Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Tel-Aviv, 69978, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel Boreholes; Boring; Gamma rays; Geophysics; Glacial geology; Infill drilling; Lakes; Lithology; Sandstone; Sodium chloride; Stratigraphy; Well logging, Dead sea basins; Downholes; Geophysical properties; ICDP; Petrophysical properties; Sedimentary structure; Stratigraphic architecture; Well logs, Sedimentology, facies analysis; lacustrine deposit; lithofacies; lithology; mudstone; Quaternary; reconstruction; sediment core; sedimentary sequence; sedimentary structure; siltstone; spatial analysis; temporal analysis; well logging, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85056696395&doi=10.1016%2fj.jappgeo.2018.11.002&partnerID=40&md5=709de8675f700d925895f19d170a697a cited By 10 L. Coianiz Z. Ben-Avraham M. Stein M. Lazar article Thomas2019479 Article 2019 10.1130/G45801.1 Geology 47 479 – 482 5 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85065547896&doi=10.1130%2fG45801.1&partnerID=40&md5=f9010bbada7dc99ae599fe98ef89fb9c Cited by: 12; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access, Green Open Access Camille Thomas Vincent Grossi Ingrid Antheaume Daniel Ariztegui article Armon201958 Article 2019 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.005 Quaternary Science Reviews 216 58 – 73 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85067013433&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.06.005&partnerID=40&md5=b7e9bada52b2f49f1fd76b15d7256264 Cited by: 35 Moshe Armon Efrat Morin Yehouda Enzel article Miebach201998 The southern Levant is a key region for studying vegetation developments in relation to climate dynamics and hominin migration processes in the past due to the sensitivity of the vegetation to climate variations and the long history of different anthropogenic occupation phases. However, paleoenvironmental conditions in the southern Levant during the Late Pleistocene were still insufficiently understood. Therefore, we investigated the vegetation and fire history of the Dead Sea region during the last glacial period. We present a new palynological study conducted on sediments of Lake Lisan, the last glacial precursor of the Dead Sea. The sediments were recovered from the center of the modern Dead Sea within an ICDP campaign. The palynological results suggest that Irano-Turanian steppe and Saharo-Arabian desert vegetation prevailed in the Dead Sea region during the investigated period (ca. 88,000–14,000 years BP). Nevertheless, Mediterranean woodland elements significantly contributed to the vegetation composition, suggesting moderate amounts of available water for plants. The early last glacial was characterized by dynamic climate conditions with pronounced dry phases and high but unstable fire activity. Anatomically modern humans entered the southern Levant during a climatically stable phase (late MIS 4–MIS 3)with diverse habitats, constant moisture availability, and low fire activity. MIS 2 was the coldest phase of the investigated timeframe, causing changes in woodland composition and a widespread occurrence of steppe. We used a biome modeling approach to assess regional vegetation patterns under changing climate conditions and to evaluate different climate scenarios for the last glacial Levant. The study provides new insights into the environmental responses of the Dead Sea region to climate variations through time. It contributes towards our understanding of the paleoenvironmental conditions in the southern Levant, which functioned as an important corridor for human migration processes. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.04.033 Quaternary Science Reviews 214 Elsevier Ltd 98-116 Institute of Geosciences and Meteorology, Section Palaeontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, 53115, Germany; Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation, University of Bonn, Nussallee 17, Bonn, 53115, Germany; Institute of Geosciences and Meteorology, Section Meteorology, University of Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 20, Bonn, 53121, Germany Charcoal; Fires; Glacial geology; Lakes; Sensitivity analysis, Anatomically modern humans; Deep drilling; Eastern Mediterranean; Fire history; Late Pleistocene; Paleoclimates; Vegetation dynamics, Vegetation, anatomy; biome; charcoal; ecological modeling; fire history; hominid; Last Glacial; marine isotope stage; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; palynology; vegetation dynamics, Dead Sea; Levant; Mediterranean Region https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85065576356&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.04.033&partnerID=40&md5=c36c0d1abab20acd378a285eaa14c69e cited By 24 A. Miebach S. Stolzenberger L. Wacker A. Hense T. Litt article Levy2019 During the late Quaternary several hypersaline lakes occupied the tectonic depression of the Dead Sea Basin, depositing sequences of primary-evaporitic mineral phases: aragonite (CaCO3), gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) and halite (NaCl). Aragonite and gypsum were the dominant primary mineral phases during the glacial periods and their formation required significant import of bicarbonate (HCO3 −) and sulfate (SO4 2−) ions to the lake. While bicarbonate was likely derived from dissolution of calcite in the watershed, the sources of sulfate remained elusive. Here we investigate and quantify the long-term sulfate reservoir changes in the deep waters (hypolimnion) of Lake Lisan (the last glacial Dead Sea) using concentrations and stable isotopes of sulfur in pore-fluids from the cores that were drilled at the lake floor (2010–11) by ICDP (International Continental Drilling Program). From ca. 117ka, pore-fluid sulfate concentrations increased and the brine attained supersaturation with respect to gypsum, peaking during the last glacial maximum (LGM; ca. 20ka). Stable isotopes of pore-fluid sulfate (δ34S and δ18O) are similar to the values found in bulk sulfate minerals from the nearby Mount Sedom salt diapir. We suggest that relatively diluted and cool paleo-epilimnion water facilitated dissolution of halite and anhydrite (CaSO4) of the Mt. Sedom salt diapir, resulting in a localized increase in solution density. Subsequently, this solution sank and mixed with saline hypolimnion water, simultaneously replenishing chloride, sodium and sulfate reservoirs, while diluting it with respect to other solutes. The mixing of the calcium-rich gypsum saturated hypolimnion and the sulfate-rich sinking brine from above resulted in gypsum supersaturation. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105871 Quaternary Science Reviews 221 Elsevier Ltd Department of Geological & Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yesha'ayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem, 9692100, Israel; Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Department of Hydrology and Microbiology, Zuckerberg Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker, Israel Calcite; Calcium carbonate; Carbonate minerals; Chloride minerals; Dissolution; Drilling fluids; Glacial geology; Gypsum; Infill drilling; Isotopes; Lakes; Reservoirs (water); Saline water; Salt tectonics; Sodium chloride; Supersaturation, Dead sea; Hypersaline lakes; Last glacial; Last Glacial Maximum; Mt. Sedom diapir; Pore fluids; Solution density; Sulfate concentrations, Sulfur compounds, diapir; gypsum; isotopic analysis; Last Glacial; porewater; sulfate; supersaturation, Dead Sea; Israel; Mount Sedom; Southern District https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85071047767&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.105871&partnerID=40&md5=48e19754d5df6325369f2e568933d882 cited By 10 E.J. Levy O. Sivan G. Antler B. Lazar M. Stein Y. Yechieli I. Gavrieli article Coianiz2019175 Sequence architecture and depositional sequences of the Quaternary lacustrine succession deposited in the northern Dead Sea sub-basin were examined using logging data collected during the 2010-2011 ICDP campaign. Methods borrowed from sequence stratigraphy techniques were used to investigate the characteristics of sediments deposited in the central part of the northern lake. High resolution wire logging data combined with a detailed lithological description of the ICDP 5017-1-A deep borehole were used to examine depositional systems and related processes controlling their formation. Analysis of sedimentary stacking patterns and stratal surfaces within the late Pleistocene-Holocene lacustrine succession revealed 10 depositional sequences. It was possible to identify key stratal boundaries and to discern between three sedimentary stacking patterns interpreted here as representing lowstand systems tracts (LST), transgressive systems tracts (TST) and highstand systems tracts (HST). Examined together, they may be interpreted in terms of relative lake level changes. On the basis of the stratigraphic analysis complemented with new age dating, this article presents a record of the sediment accumulation pattern and a relative lake level curve reconstructed for the last ca 225 ka. Results show that stratigraphic units and depositional and erosional surfaces examined in the deep 5017-1-A borehole can be correlated to the proximal area of the basin. This means that changes in relative lake levels were generally synchronous and uniform across the Dead Sea basin. The creation of accommodation space in the northern Dead Sea was found to generally be in phase with paleoclimatic modulating lake levels, and not due to tectonics. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.03.009 Quaternary Science Reviews 210 Elsevier Ltd 175-189 Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, 31905, Israel; Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel; Mediterranean Sea Research Centre of Israel (MERCI), University of Haifa, Haifa, 3498838, Israel Boreholes; Deposition; Lakes; Lithology; Sedimentology, Depositional sequences; High resolution sequence stratigraphy; Highstand systems tract; Late Pleistocene-Holocene; Sequence architectures; Sequence stratigraphy; Stratigraphic analysis; Transgressive systems tracts, Stratigraphy, data set; depositional environment; depositional sequence; lacustrine deposit; lake level; paleoclimate; Pleistocene-Holocene boundary; Quaternary; reconstruction; sequence stratigraphy, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85062832348&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.03.009&partnerID=40&md5=1b58c2834616eeb54a29eb395b7e9865 cited By 5 L. Coianiz O.M. Bialik Z. Ben-Avraham M. Lazar article Oryan2019103 Numerical simulations emulating the formation of the Dead Sea Basin (DSB) infer that it could not have been formed as a pull-apart basin with a surface heat flow lower than 50[Formula presented]. However, previous measurements determined values of 32−40[Formula presented]. This contradiction is known as the “Dead Sea heat flow paradox”. Here we set to re-examine the “paradox” by analyzing heat flow data in boreholes drilled by the ICDP (International Continental Drilling Program) in the northern DSB. The boreholes and the extracted sediment cores offer a unique opportunity to re-measure the heat flow in the DSB and assess the “paradox”. Heat flow was determined by obtaining in situ temperature profiles from the boreholes and conducting 469 thermal conductivity measurements on the cores. The newly computed values are in agreement with those previously obtained for the DSB and fall below the threshold of 50[Formula presented]. Different explanations proposed to justify higher heat flow seem to fail leaving the “Dead Sea heat flow paradox” unresolved. Heat flow values and the sedimentation corrections determined in this research are consistent with the Ginzburg and Ben-Avraham subsurface model for the DSB, suggesting deeper sediment filling in the southern part of the basin. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.016 Quaternary Science Reviews 210 Elsevier Ltd 103-112 Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel; Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Strasse 2, Bremen, 28359, Germany; Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel31905, Israel; Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue des Maraichers 13, Geneva, CH-1205, Switzerland Boreholes; Boring; Chloride minerals; Heat transfer; Infill drilling; Thermal conductivity, Dead sea basins; Deep drilling; In-situ temperature; International continental drilling program (ICDP); Salt diapirs; Subsurface model; Surface heat flow; Thermal conductivity measurements, Flow measuring instruments, borehole; correction; Deep Sea Drilling Project; diapir; heat flow; saline lake; sediment core; sedimentation; thermal conductivity, Calluna vulgaris https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85062811782&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.02.016&partnerID=40&md5=d0064288f898e235c22b5647c98b3a5e cited By 3 B. Oryan H. Villinger M. Lazar M.J. Schwab I. Neugebauer Z. Ben-Avraham article Zoccatelli20192665 Article 2019 10.5194/hess-23-2665-2019 Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 23 2665 – 2678 6 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85067873341&doi=10.5194%2fhess-23-2665-2019&partnerID=40&md5=29b9192f2f7c168940a2e13b94727ace Cited by: 33; All Open Access, Gold Open Access, Green Open Access Davide Zoccatelli Francesco Marra Moshe Armon Yair Rinat James A. Smith Efrat Morin article Belmaker2019 The laminated sequences of the Holocene Dead Sea (DS) and its late Pleistocene precursor Lake Lisan comprise primary aragonite and fine detritus that record the hydro-climate conditions of the late Quaternary Levant. Several studies suggested that the primary aragonite precipitated due to mixing between runoff that brought bicarbonate to the lake and the lake's Ca-chloride brine. However, the factors controlling the aragonite precipitation were not robustly established. Here, we addressed this issue by measuring the chemical composition (pH, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Sr2+, Cl−, Br−, B, alkalinity) of flood plumes where the mixing occurs. The results indicate that: (a) Na+, Mg2+, K+ and Cl− are conservative during the floodwater-brine mixing whereas Ca2+ and Sr2+ adsorb on flood's suspended sediments; (b) Boron (an important alkalinity species in the DS) adsorption on flood's suspended load enabled the bicarbonate that entered the lake via runoff to react with the Ca2+ thus facilitating aragonite precipitation (c) Dissolution of calcite dust blown from the Sahara during winter storm is the source of bicarbonate which is required for aragonite precipitation. These observations explain the occurrence of aragonite laminae both during the wet last glacial period and during the dry last 3000yr. Although the water input during these two periods was completely different, they both were characterized by high dust fluxes and a stratified lake configuration in which the boron concentrations in the epilimnion were low enough to enable the bicarbonate that entered the lake via runoff to react with the lake brine Ca2+ and precipitate aragonite. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd 2019 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105876 Quaternary Science Reviews 221 Elsevier Ltd Dr. Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel; The Fredy & Nadine Hermann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yesha'ayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem, 9692100, Israel Alkalinity; Boron; Brines; Calcite; Chlorine compounds; Dust; Floods; Lakes; Mixing; pH; Runoff; Storms; Suspended sediments, Boron concentrations; Carbonate alkalinity; Chemical compositions; Dead sea; Flood plumes; Geochemical measurements; Last glacial period; Primary aragonite, Carbonate minerals, alkalinity; aragonite; borate; brine; carbonate; chemical composition; climate conditions; dissolution; dust; epilimnion; flood; geochemistry; Holocene; hydrometeorology; measurement method; Pleistocene; precipitation (chemistry), Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85070567363&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2019.105876&partnerID=40&md5=5711d744139c5f8d996a0c56a11b443f cited By 19 R. Belmaker B. Lazar M. Stein N. Taha R. Bookman article Marra2019280 Article 2019 10.1016/j.advwatres.2019.04.002 Advances in Water Resources 127 280 – 290 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85063991138&doi=10.1016%2fj.advwatres.2019.04.002&partnerID=40&md5=02b5972b7f8d51b50ece317079a2b268 Cited by: 77 Francesco Marra Davide Zoccatelli Moshe Armon Efrat Morin article Kushnir2019 This paper examines the hydroclimate history of the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) region during the 10th to 14th centuries C.E., a period known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), a time of significant historical turmoil and change in the region. The study assembles several regional hydroclimatic archives, primarily the Dead Sea reconstructed lake level curve together with the recently extracted deep-lake sediment record, the Soreq Cave speleothem record and its counterpart, the EM marine sediment record and the Cairo Nilometer record of annual maximum summer flood levels in lower Egypt. The Dead Sea record is a primary indicator of the intensity of the EM cold-season storm activity while the Nilometer reflects the intensity of the late summer monsoon rains over Ethiopia. These two climate systems control the annual rainfall amounts and water availability in the two regional breadbaskets of old, in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The paleoclimate archives portray a variable MCA in both the Levant and the Ethiopian Highlands with an overall dry, early-medieval climate that turned wetter in the 12th century C.E. However, the paleoclimatic records are markedly punctuated by episodes of extreme aridity. In particular, the Dead Sea displays extreme low lake levels and significant salt deposits starting as early as the 9th century C.E. and ending in the late 11th century. The Nile summer flood levels were particularly low during the 10th and 11th centuries, as is also recorded in a large number of historical chronicles that described a large cluster of droughts that led to dire human strife associated with famine, pestilence and conflict. During that time droughts and cold spells also affected the northeastern Middle East, in Persia and Mesopotamia. Seeking an explanation for the pronounced aridity and human consequences across the entire EM, we note that the 10th-11th century events coincide with the medieval Oort Grand Solar Minimum, which came at the height of an interval of relatively high solar irradiance. Bringing together other tropical and Northern Hemisphere paleoclimatic evidence, we argue for the role of long-term variations in solar irradiance in shaping the early MCA in the EM and highlight their relevance to the present and near-term future. © 2019 by the authors. 2019 English 20734433 10.3390/atmos10010029 Atmosphere 10 MDPI AG Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel 1 Chloride minerals; Drought; Floods; Food supply; Lakes; Rain; Solar radiation; Submarine geology, Climate variability; Eastern Mediterranean; Extreme events; Lake-sediment records; Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA); Mediterranean; Northern Hemispheres; Paleoclimatic record, Climate change, aridity; climate change; climate variation; extreme event; lacustrine deposit; marine sediment; monsoon; paleoclimate; speleothem, Dead Sea; Ethiopia; Mediterranean Region https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060031954&doi=10.3390%2fatmos10010029&partnerID=40&md5=4e4b1762f1c5999b94d4345a88970569 cited By 11 Y. Kushnir M. Stein article Hamdani2018155 Article 2018 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.04.057 Journal of Hydrology 562 155 – 167 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046664238&doi=10.1016%2fj.jhydrol.2018.04.057&partnerID=40&md5=c65d43ca872ff264f3e60c2f0fb1ab92 Cited by: 43 I. Hamdani S. Assouline J. Tanny I.M. Lensky I. Gertman Z. Mor N.G. Lensky article Weber2018242 Article 2018 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.027 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 493 242 – 261 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046821299&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2018.04.027&partnerID=40&md5=612d72e42ea3e956936df36e2fdbe82d Cited by: 20; All Open Access, Green Open Access Nurit Weber Yoseph Yechieli Mordechai Stein Reika Yokochi Ittai Gavrieli Jake Zappala Peter Mueller Boaz Lazar article Armon20181077 Article 2018 10.1175/JHM-D-18-0013.1 Journal of Hydrometeorology 19 1077 – 1096 6 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85048027669&doi=10.1175%2fJHM-D-18-0013.1&partnerID=40&md5=70a6a7568905b569836c596f387897c2 Cited by: 56 Moshe Armon Elad Dente James A. Smith Yehouda Enzel Efrat Morin article Palchan2018123 The sediments deposited at the depocenter of the Dead Sea comprise high-resolution archive of hydrological changes in the lake's watershed and record the desert dust transport to the region. This paper reconstructs the dust transport to the region during the termination of glacial Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS 6; ∼135–129 ka) and the last interglacial peak period (MIS5e, ∼129–116 ka). We use chemical and Nd and Sr isotope compositions of fine detritus material recovered from sediment core drilled at the deepest floor of the Dead Sea. The data is integrated with data achieved from cores drilled at the floor of the Red Sea, thus, forming a Red Sea-Dead Sea transect extending from the desert belt to the Mediterranean climate zone. The Dead Sea accumulated flood sediments derived from three regional surface cover types: settled desert dust, mountain loess-soils and loess-soils filling valleys in the Dead Sea watershed termed here “Valley Loess”. The Valley Loess shows a distinct 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7081 ± 1, inherited from dissolved detrital calcites that originate from dried waterbodies in the Sahara and are transported with the dust to the entire transect. Our hydro-climate and synoptic conditions reconstruction illustrates the following history: During glacial period MIS6, Mediterranean cyclones governed the transport of Saharan dust and rains to the Dead Sea watershed, driving the development of both mountain soils and Valley Loess. Then, at Heinrich event 11, dry western winds blew Saharan dust over the entire Red Sea - Dead Sea transect marking latitudinal expansion of the desert belt. Later, when global sea-level rose, the Dead Sea watershed went through extreme aridity, the lake retreated, depositing salt and accumulating fine detritus of the Valley Loess. During peak interglacial MIS 5e, enhanced flooding activity flushed the mountain soils and fine detritus from all around the Dead Sea and Red Sea, marking a significant “contraction” of the desert belt. At the end of MIS 5e the effect of the regional precipitation diminished and the Dead Sea and Red Sea areas re-entered sever arid conditions with extensive salt deposition at the Dead Sea. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd 2018 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.09.004 Quaternary Science Reviews 179 Elsevier Ltd 123-136 The Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States Binary alloys; Chloride minerals; Climatology; Dust; Floods; Floors; Glacial geology; Isotopes; Lakes; Landforms; Neodymium; Neodymium alloys; Sea level; Seawater; Soils; Storms; Strontium; Strontium alloys; Watersheds, Dead sea; Dust sources; Late quaternary; Levant; Loess; Nd-Sr isotopes; Paleo-climate; Paleo-synoptic; Red sea, Sediments, depocenter; dust; flood; flooding; Heinrich event; hydrological change; isotopic composition; Last Interglacial; loess; marine isotope stage; Mediterranean environment; paleoclimate; particle size; precipitation (climatology); Quaternary; sea level change; sediment core; strontium; strontium isotope; watershed, Dead Sea; Indian Ocean; Levantine Sea; Mediterranean Sea; Red Sea [Indian Ocean]; Sahara https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85034644909&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2017.09.004&partnerID=40&md5=cfc6b9cadd7793658ae13efdcb11a3f6 cited By 15 D. Palchan M. Stein S.L. Goldstein A. Almogi-Labin O. Tirosh Y. Erel article Ahlborn2018425 Identifying climates favoring extreme weather phenomena is a primary aim of paleoclimate and paleohydrological research. Here, we present a well-dated, late Holocene Dead Sea sediment record of debris flows covering 3.3 to 1.9 cal ka BP. Twenty-three graded layers deposited in shallow waters near the western Dead Sea shore were identified by microfacies analysis. These layers represent distal subaquatic deposits of debris flows triggered by torrential rainstorms over the adjacent western Dead Sea escarpment. Modern debris flows on this escarpment are induced by rare rainstorms with intensities exceeding >30 mm h-1 for at least one hour and originate primarily from the Active Red Sea Trough synoptic pattern. The observed late Holocene clustering of such debris flows during a regional drought indicates an increased influence of Active Red Sea Troughs resulting from a shift in synoptic atmospheric circulation patterns. This shift likely decreased the passages of eastern Mediterranean cyclones, leading to drier conditions, but favored rainstorms triggered by the Active Red Sea Trough. This is in accord with present-day meteorological data showing an increased frequency of torrential rainstorms in regions of drier climate. Hence, this study provides conclusive evidence for a shift in synoptic atmospheric circulation patterns during a late Holocene drought. Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018. 2018 English 00335894 10.1017/qua.2018.9 Quaternary Research (United States) 89 Cambridge University Press 425-431 Section 5.2: Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany; Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus - Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 9190401, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue des Maraîchers 13, Genève, CH-1205, Switzerland; Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, Al-Quds University, Abu-Dis, P.O. Box: 89, Jerusalem, Israel 2 Climatology; Debris; Drought; Floods, Dead sea; Debris flows; Holocenes; Lake sediments; Levant; Paleoclimates; Red sea, Thunderstorms, atmospheric circulation; cyclone; debris flow; drought; facies analysis; flood; geological record; Holocene; lacustrine deposit; microfacies; paleoclimate; paleohydrology; rainstorm; trough, Dead Sea; Indian Ocean; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Red Sea [Indian Ocean] https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85045001361&doi=10.1017%2fqua.2018.9&partnerID=40&md5=f11bf3bfa7b6d7cf6a4af32a3bd8e612 cited By 15 M. Ahlborn M. Armon Y. Ben Dor I. Neugebauer M.J. Schwab R. Tjallingii J.H. Shoqeir E. Morin Y. Enzel A. Brauer article Levy2018127 The chemical composition and δ37Cl of pore fluids from the ICDP core drilled in the deepest floor of the terminal and hypersaline Dead Sea, and halites from the adjacent Mount Sedom salt diapir, are used to establish the dynamics of halite precipitation and dissolution during the last interglacial and glacial periods. Between ∼132 and 116 thousand years ago (ka) halites precipitated in the lake resulting in the expulsion of Na+ and Cl− from the residual solution. Over 50% of the Cl− reservoir was removed, resulting in a decrease in the Na/Cl ratio from 0.57 to 0.19. This process was accompanied by a decrease in δ37Cl values in the precipitating halites and the associated residual Cl− in the lake. The observed decrease fits a Rayleigh distillation curve with a fractionation factor of Δ(NaCl–Dead Sea solution) = +0.32‰ (±0.12) determined in the present study. This behavior implies negligible contribution of external sources of Cl− to the lake during the main peak of the last interglacial, MIS5e. Subsequently, during the last glacial (ca. 117 to 17 ka) dissolution of halite took place, the Na+ and Cl− inventory were replenished, accompanied by an increase in Na/Cl from 0.21 to 0.55 and in the δ37Cl values from −0.46‰ to −0.12‰. While the lake underwent significant dilution during that time, the decrease in salinity was somewhat suppressed by the dissolution of the halite which was mostly derived from Mount Sedom salt diapir. © 2018 Elsevier B.V. 2018 English 0012821X 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.02.003 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 487 Elsevier B.V. 127-137 Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; Department of Hydrology and Microbiology, Zuckerberg Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker, Israel; Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964, United States Curve fitting; Dissolution; Distillation; Glacial geology; Lakes; Precipitation (chemical); Reservoirs (water); Salt tectonics; Sodium chloride, Chemical compositions; Dead sea; Fractionation factors; ICDP; Rayleigh distillation; Residual solutions; Salt diapirs; Salt precipitation, Chloride minerals, chemical composition; chlorine isotope; dissolution; fluid composition; fractionation; halite; hydrochemistry; precipitation (chemistry); Quaternary; reservoir; salt dome, Dead Sea; Israel; Mount Sedom; Southern District https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85044732582&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2018.02.003&partnerID=40&md5=8a760a5d05440b5ab1ac90c44f9796dd cited By 13 E.J. Levy Y. Yechieli I. Gavrieli B. Lazar Y. Kiro M. Stein O. Sivan article Lensky2018150 Article 2018 10.1002/2017WR021536 Water Resources Research 54 150 – 160 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85040597750&doi=10.1002%2f2017WR021536&partnerID=40&md5=d81ae538e54ebf06d8e89f711e855603 Cited by: 33; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access N.G. Lensky I.M. Lensky A. Peretz I. Gertman J. Tanny S. Assouline article Chen201815 The paleoclimate of the southern Levant, especially during the last interglacial (LIG), is still under debate. Reliable paleovegetation information for this period, as independent evidence to the paleoenvironment, was still missing. In this study, we present a high-resolution pollen record encompassing 147–89 ka from the Dead Sea deep drilling core 5017-1A. The sediment profile is marked by alternations of laminated marl deposits and thick massive halite, indicating lake-level fluctuations. The pollen record suggests that steppe and desert components predominated in the Dead Sea surroundings during the whole investigated interval. The late penultimate glacial (147.3–130.9 ka) and early last glacial (115.5–89.1 ka) were cool and relatively dry, with sub-humid conditions confined to the mountains that sustained moderate amounts of deciduous oaks. Prior to the LIG optimum, a prevalence of desert components and a concomitant increase in frost-sensitive pistachio trees demonstrate the occurrence of an arid initial warming phase (130.9–124.2 ka). The LIG optimum (124.2 ka–115.5 ka) was initiated by an abrupt grass expansion that was followed by a rapid spread of woodlands in the mountains due to increased moisture availability. The remarkable sclerophyllous expansion points to a strong seasonal moisture deficit. These results contradict previous Dead Sea lake-level investigations that suggested pluvial glacials and a warm, dry LIG in the southern Levant. Prominent discrepancies between vegetation and Dead Sea lake stands are also registered at 128–115 ka, and the potential causes are discussed. In particular, while the pollen spectra mirror increased effective moisture during the LIG optimum, the massive halite deposition is indicative of an extremely low lake level. Given that the climate amelioration triggered the migration of early modern humans to the southern Levant, we speculate that the diverse ecosystems in the region provided great potential for their residence. Across the eastern Mediterranean region, an analogous vegetation succession pattern is observed. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd 2018 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.03.029 Quaternary Science Reviews 188 Elsevier Ltd 15-27 School of Geographic Science, Nantong University, Tongjingdadao 999, Nantong, 226007, China; Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, Bonn, 53115, Germany Chloride minerals; Fertilizers; Glacial geology; Landforms; Moisture; Sodium chloride; Vegetation, Eastern Mediterranean; Human migration; Lake levels; Last interglacial; Paleovegetation, Lakes, deciduous tree; deep drilling; desert; dicotyledon; grass; interglacial; lake level; Last Glacial; marine isotope stage; migration; paleobotany; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; pollen; sediment analysis; steppe; warming, Dead Sea; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Mediterranean Sea; Mediterranean Sea (East), Pistacia vera; Quercus https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85044538478&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2018.03.029&partnerID=40&md5=aed38a4736053656daf09d63e32f0ce6 cited By 23 C. Chen T. Litt article BenDor2018 Floods comprise a dominant hydroclimatic phenomenon in aridlands with significant implications for humans, infrastructure, and landscape evolution worldwide. The study of short-term hydroclimatic variability, such as floods, and its forecasting for episodes of changing climate therefore poses a dominant challenge for the scientific community, and predominantly relies on modeling. Testing the capabilities of climate models to properly describe past and forecast future short-term hydroclimatic phenomena such as floods requires verification against suitable geological archives. However, determining flood frequency during changing climate is rarely achieved, because modern and paleoflood records, especially in arid regions, are often too short or discontinuous. Thus, coeval independent climate reconstructions and paleoflood records are required to further understand the impact of climate change on flood generation. Dead Sea lake levels reflect the mean centennial-millennial hydrological budget in the eastern Mediterranean. In contrast, floods in the large watersheds draining directly into the Dead Sea, are linked to short-term synoptic circulation patterns reflecting hydroclimatic variability. These two very different records are combined in this study to resolve flood frequency during opposing mean climates. Two 700-year-long, seasonally-resolved flood time series constructed from late Pleistocene Dead Sea varved sediments, coeval with significant Dead Sea lake level variations are reported. These series demonstrate that episodes of rising lake levels are characterized by higher frequency of floods, shorter intervals between years of multiple floods, and asignificantly larger number of years that experienced multiple floods. In addition, floods cluster into intervals of intense flooding, characterized by 75% and 20% increased frequency above their respective background frequencies during rising and falling lake-levels, respectively. Mean centennial precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean is therefore coupled with drastic changes in flood frequencies. These drastic changes in flood frequencies are linked to changes in the track, depth, and frequency of mid-latitude eastern Mediterranean cyclones, determining mean climatology resulting in wetter and drier regional climatic episodes. © 2018 The Author(s). 2018 English 20452322 10.1038/s41598-018-25969-6 Scientific Reports 8 Nature Publishing Group Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Section 5.2: Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany 1 article; budget; climate change; flooding; human; hurricane; latitude; precipitation; sediment; time series analysis; Upper Pleistocene; watershed; Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85048001902&doi=10.1038%2fs41598-018-25969-6&partnerID=40&md5=2f54d790a2742f3d05bb8fe3cf69f60f cited By 19 Y. Ben Dor M. Armon M. Ahlborn E. Morin Y. Erel A. Brauer M.J. Schwab R. Tjallingii Y. Enzel article Kagan20182806 Article 2018 10.1002/2017JB014117 Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 123 2806 – 2824 4 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85044845067&doi=10.1002%2f2017JB014117&partnerID=40&md5=e3cee88272af2507b947cd9a201f7fe8 Cited by: 39 Elisa Kagan Mordechai Stein Shmuel Marco article Levy2017315 Pore fluids extracted from a 456 m sediment core, recovered within the framework of a multinational and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) co-sponsored effort at the bottom of the terminal Dead Sea, recorded the chemical variations in the deep lake over the past 220 k.y. Mg2+ and Br- were shown to be conservative in the pore fluids, increasing in concentration during interglacial periods, diluting during glacials, and providing excellent proxies for deep lake net water balance changes. Furthermore, the Na/Cl ratio recorded the process of halite precipitation and dissolution induced by these hydrological changes. Mg2+ and Br- records follow a glacialinterglacial pattern, such as observed in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global sea-surface temperatures, albeit with a phase offset. At the end of the last interglacial (ca. 116 ka), there is a delay in onset of dilution of the deep lake, most likely due to the limnological transition from holomictic to meromictic conditions. The increase in deep lake concentrations at Last Glacial Termination I is delayed as a result of freshwater input into the deep lake during the cooler Younger Dryas period. There is a persistent relationship between precipitation in the watershed and North Atlantic sea-surface temperatures, similar to conditions observed over the past instrumental record. Deviations from the long-term trends occurred during interglacial periods, Marine Isotope Stages MIS 5e and MIS 1, when the deep Dead Sea was significantly diluted, and coincided with Mediterranean sapropel layers S5 and S1. © 2017 The Authors. 2017 English 00917613 10.1130/G38685.1 Geology 45 Geological Society of America 315-318 Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Department of Hydrology and Microbiology, Zuckerberg Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker, 8499000, Israel 4 Atmospheric temperature; Bromine; Carbon dioxide; Climate change; Drilling fluids; Glacial geology; Magnesium; Oceanography; Submarine geophysics; Surface properties; Surface waters, Chemical variations; Continental scientific drillings; Global climate changes; Hydrological changes; Interglacial periods; Last glacial terminations; Marine isotope stages; Sea surface temperature (SST), Lakes, climate variation; Last Glacial; paleoclimate; porewater; precipitation (climatology); sediment core; water budget; water chemistry, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85015207606&doi=10.1130%2fG38685.1&partnerID=40&md5=ea14e0e90bd9f5286e895b818a1a8b76 cited By 16 E.J. Levy M. Stein B. Lazar I. Gavrieli Y. Yechieli O. Sivan inbook torfstein_2017 2017 10.1017/9781316106754.010 Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Cambridge University Press Enzel, Yehouda and Bar-Yosef, OferEditors 91–98 Adi Torfstein inbook waldmann_neugebauer_palchan_hadzhiivanova_taha_brauer_enzel_2017 2017 10.1017/9781316106754.009 Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Cambridge University Press Enzel, Yehouda and Bar-Yosef, OferEditors 83–90 Nicolas Waldmann Ina Neugebauer Daniel Palchan Elitsa Hadzhiivanova Nimer Taha Achim Brauer Yehouda Enzel article Kiro2017211 Thick halite intervals recovered by the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project cores show evidence for severely arid climatic conditions in the eastern Mediterranean during the last three interglacials. In particular, the core interval corresponding to the peak of the last interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e or MIS 5e) contains ∼30 m of salt over 85 m of core length, making this the driest known period in that region during the late Quaternary. This study reconstructs Dead Sea lake levels during the salt deposition intervals, based on water and salt budgets derived from the Dead Sea brine composition and the amount of salt in the core. Modern water and salt budgets indicate that halite precipitates only during declining lake levels, while the amount of dissolved Na+ and Cl− accumulates during wetter intervals. Based on the compositions of Dead Sea brines from pore waters and halite fluid inclusions, we estimate that ∼12–16 cm of halite precipitated per meter of lake-level drop. During periods of halite precipitation, the Mg2+ concentration increases and the Na+/Cl− ratio decreases in the lake. Our calculations indicate major lake-level drops of ∼170 m from lake levels of 320 and 310 m below sea level (mbsl) down to lake levels of ∼490 and ∼480 mbsl, during MIS 5e and the Holocene, respectively. These lake levels are much lower than typical interglacial lake levels of around 400 mbsl. These lake-level drops occurred as a result of major decreases in average fresh water runoff, to ∼40% of the modern value (pre-1964, before major fresh water diversions), reflecting severe droughts during which annual precipitation in Jerusalem was lower than 350 mm/y, compared to ∼600 mm/y today. Nevertheless, even during salt intervals, the changes in halite facies and the occurrence of alternating periods of halite and detritus in the Dead Sea core stratigraphy reflect fluctuations between drier and wetter conditions around our estimated average. The halite intervals include periods that are richer and poorer in halite, indicating (based on the sedimentation rate) that severe dry conditions with water availability as low as ∼20% of the present day, continued for periods of decades to centuries, and fluctuated with wetter conditions that spanned centuries to millennia when water availability was ∼50–100% of the present day. These conclusions have potential implications for the coming decades, as climate models predict greater aridity in the region. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. 2017 English 0012821X 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.01.043 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 464 Elsevier B.V. 211-226 Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Serveis Cientificotècnics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08028, Spain; Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel Brines; Budget control; Climate change; Climate models; Drops; Drought; Flood control; Isotopes; Lakes; Sea level; Sodium chloride; Stratigraphy; Water, Annual precipitation; Climatic conditions; Dead sea; Eastern Mediterranean; Interglacial; Lake levels; Marine isotope stages; Sedimentation rates, Chloride minerals, aridity; drought; extreme event; halite; interglacial; lake level; marine isotope stage; paleoclimate; Quaternary; salt; water budget, Dead Sea; Mediterranean Region https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85013782986&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2017.01.043&partnerID=40&md5=a4d5ad356b2e40e4a2fb913649c1e8f4 cited By 39 Y. Kiro S.L. Goldstein J. Garcia-Veigas E. Levy Y. Kushnir M. Stein B. Lazar article Torfstein2017 We report the δ34 S and δ18 O(SO4) measured in gypsum, pyrite, and elemental sulfur through a 456-m thick sediment core from the center of the Dead Sea, representing the last ∼200 kyrs, as well as from the exposed glacial outcrops of the Masada M1 section located on the margins of the modern Dead Sea. The results are used to explore and quantify the evolution of sulfur microbial metabolism in the Dead Sea and to reconstruct the lake’s water column configuration during the late Quaternary. Layers and laminae of primary gypsum, the main sulfur-bearing mineral in the sedimentary column, display the highest δ34 S and δ18 O(SO4) in the range of 13–28 and 13–30%, respectively. Within this group, gypsum layers deposited during interglacials display lower δ34 S and δ18 O(SO4) relative to those associated with glacial or deglacial stages. The reduced sulfur phases, including chromiumreducible sulfur, andsecondary gypsumcrystals are characterizedby extremely low δ34 S in the range of −27 to +7%. The δ18 O(SO4) of the secondary gypsum in the M1 outcrop ranges from 8 to 14%. The relationship between δ34 S and δ18 O(SO4) of primary gypsumsuggests that the rate of microbial sulfate reduction was lower during glacial relative to interglacial times. This suggests that the freshening of the lake during glacial wet intervals, and the subsequent rise in sulfate concentrations, slowed the rate of microbial metabolism. Alternatively, this could imply that sulfate-driven anaerobic methane oxidation, the dominant sulfur microbial metabolism today, is a feature of the hypersalinity in the modern Dead Sea. Sedimentary sulfides are quantitatively oxidized during epigenetic exposure, retaining the lower δ34 S signature; the δ18 O(SO4) of this secondary gypsum is controlled by oxygen atoms derived equally from atmospheric oxygen and from water, which is likely a unique feature in this hyperarid environment. © 2017 Torfstein and Turchyn. 2017 English 22966463 10.3389/feart.2017.00062 Frontiers in Earth Science 5 Frontiers Media S.A. Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom Glacial geology; Gypsum; Lakes; Metabolism; Oxidation; Oxygen; Paleolimnology; Pyrites; Sedimentology, Dead sea; Isotope fractionation; Sulfate reduction; Sulfates; Sulfide oxidation, Sulfur compounds, gypsum; outcrop; oxygen isotope; pyrite; sediment core; sulfate-reducing bacterium; sulfur, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85027696689&doi=10.3389%2ffeart.2017.00062&partnerID=40&md5=0949aaef73b47be8a010e0a9d703b6f0 cited By 6 A. Torfstein A.V. Turchyn article Kitagawa2017383 This study establishes the chronological framework of the sedimentary sequence deposited Dead Sea, ICDP 5017-1, Radiocarbon chronology during the past 50 ka at the deepest part of the Dead Sea (the ICDP 5017-1 site), which was recovered by the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project (DSDDP) under the auspices of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). The age-depth model is constructed using 3814C dates of terrestrial plant remains in a composite 150-m-long profile, generated by anchoring 32 marker layers identified in five cores. The sedimentary records at the ICDP 5017-1 site fills gaps in those obtained from the exposed sections at the high margins of the lake, particularly in times of lake-level retreat, and allows for a high-resolution comparison between the lake’s margins and deepest floor. © 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona. 2017 English 00338222 10.1017/RDC.2016.120 Radiocarbon 59 Cambridge University Press 383-394 Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan; Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; The Fredy and Nadine Hermann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel 2 carbon isotope; chronology; Deep Sea Drilling Project; lacustrine environment; lake level; radiocarbon dating; sedimentary sequence; terrestrial environment, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85018412638&doi=10.1017%2fRDC.2016.120&partnerID=40&md5=9f889af078009bbdd1183ba58e0e59ae cited By 27 H. Kitagawa M. Stein S.L. Goldstein T. Nakamura B. Lazar DSDDP Scientific Party article Lu20178305 Article 2017 10.1002/2017JB014342 Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 122 8305 – 8325 10 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85033215233&doi=10.1002%2f2017JB014342&partnerID=40&md5=005c892a389697daa1d406873f830f05 Cited by: 40; All Open Access, Bronze Open Access, Green Open Access Yin Lu Nicolas Waldmann G. Ian Alsop Shmuel Marco article Palchan2017168 The drilled Inter-Continental Drilling Project core at the deeps of the Dead Sea reveals thick sequences of halite deposits from the last interglacial period, reflecting prevailing arid conditions in the lake's watershed. Here, we examine sequences of intercalating evaporates (halite or gypsum) and fine-detritus laminae and apply petrographic, micro-X-ray fluorescence, and statistical tools to establish in high-temporal resolution the hydroclimatic controls on the sedimentation in the last interglacial Dead Sea. The time series of the thickness of the best-recovered core sections of the layered halite, detritus, and gypsum reveals periodicities of ~11, 7-8, and 4-5 yr, pointing to a North Atlantic control and possibly solar influence on the hydrology of the Dead Sea watershed during the regionally arid period of the last interglacial period. Similar periodicities were detected in the last glacial and modern sedimentary sequences of the Dead Sea and other archives of the central Levant, indicating a persistent impact of the solar cycles on regional hydrology, possibly through the effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation. © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2017. 2017 English 00335894 10.1017/qua.2016.10 Quaternary Research (United States) 87 Cambridge University Press 168-179 Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkei Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel; GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Section 5.2 Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; Department of Marine Geosciences, Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, 31905 Mt. Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel 1 Atmospheric pressure; Chloride minerals; Gypsum; Hydrology; Seawater; Sodium chloride; Statistical mechanics; Watersheds, Dead sea; ICDP core; Interglacial; Laminated sediments; Levant; North Atlantic oscillations; Paleoclimates; Solar cycle, Oceanography, deposition; drilling; halite; Last Glacial; Last Interglacial; marine isotope stage; North Atlantic Oscillation; paleoclimate; periodicity; sedimentary sequence; solar cycle, Atlantic Ocean; Atlantic Ocean (North); Dead Sea; Levant; Mediterranean Region https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85028867652&doi=10.1017%2fqua.2016.10&partnerID=40&md5=6553d745b429c07fa78a45f3665cd784 cited By 16 D. Palchan I. Neugebauer Y. Amitai N.D. Waldmann M.J. Schwab P. Dulski A. Brauer M. Stein Y. Erel Y. Enzel inbook stein_goldstein_2017 2017 10.1017/9781316106754.012 Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Cambridge University Press Enzel, Yehouda and Bar-Yosef, OferEditors 107–114 Mordechai Stein Steven L. Goldstein article Lu2017199 Article 2017 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.04.003 Global and Planetary Change 152 199 – 208 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85018876049&doi=10.1016%2fj.gloplacha.2017.04.003&partnerID=40&md5=f576dae2f6e4a55c2a993003402c9bd9 Cited by: 21 Yin Lu Nicolas Waldmann Dani Nadel Shmuel Marco article Neugebauer2017269 Here we report on the first findings of a cryptotephra in the Holocene lacustrine sediment records of the Dead Sea and Tayma palaeolake (NW Arabian Peninsula). The major element glass composition of this rhyolitic tephra is identical to the distal ‘S1’ tephra layer identified in the Yammoûneh palaeolake (Lebanon), in a marine sediment record from the SE Levantine basin and in the Sodmein Cave archaeological site in Egypt. The S1 tephra corresponds to the early Holocene ‘Dikkartın’ dome eruption of the Erciyes Dağ volcano in central Anatolia (Turkey) and has been dated in the marine record at 8830 ± 140 cal yr BP. We present new age estimates of the S1 tephra based on radiocarbon dating of terrestrial plant remains and pollen concentrates revealing ages of 8939 ± 83 cal yr BP in the Dead Sea sediments and 9041 ± 254 cal yr BP in Tayma. The precise date from the Dead Sea allows refining the early Holocene marine reservoir age in the SE Levantine Sea to ca. 320 ± 50 years. Synchronisation of marine and terrestrial palaeoclimate records in the eastern Mediterranean region using the S1 tephra further suggests a time-transgressive expansion of the early Holocene humid period. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd 2017 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.06.020 Quaternary Science Reviews 170 Elsevier Ltd 269-275 GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2 – Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany; University of Geneva, Department of Earth Sciences, Rue des Maraichers 13, Geneva, CH-1205, Switzerland; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.1 – Geomorphology, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany; Heidelberg University, Institute of Earth Sciences, Im Neuenheimer Feld 234, Heidelberg, D-69120, Germany; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 4.3 – Chemistry and Physics of Earth Materials, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany Plants (botany); Reservoirs (water); Submarine geology, Early Holocene; Eastern Mediterranean; Lake sediments; Marine reservoir age; NW Arabian Peninsula; Palaeoclimate; S1 tephra; Tephrochronology, Sediments, age determination; Holocene; lacustrine deposit; marine environment; marine record; marine sediment; paleoclimate; radiocarbon dating; tephra; tephrochronology; volcano, Anatolia; Arabian Peninsula; Dead Sea; Egypt; Lebanon; Levantine Sea; Mediterranean Region; Mediterranean Sea; Red Sea [(GVR) Egypt]; Saudi Arabia; Sodmein Cave; Tabuk [Saudi Arabia]; Tayma; Turkey https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85021281813&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2017.06.020&partnerID=40&md5=a7615e201a770b5c55e0e84b5c10b5ac cited By 11 I. Neugebauer S. Wulf M.J. Schwab J. Serb B. Plessen O. Appelt A. Brauer inbook torfstein_enzel_2017 2017 10.1017/9781316106754.013 Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Cambridge University Press Enzel, Yehouda and Bar-Yosef, OferEditors 115–126 Adi Torfstein Yehouda Enzel inbook stein_lazar_torfstein_goldstein_2017 2017 10.1017/9781316106754.008 Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Cambridge University Press Enzel, Yehouda and Bar-Yosef, OferEditors 75–82 Mordechai Stein Boaz Lazar Adi Torfstein Steven L. Goldstein inbook waldmann_2017 2017 10.1017/9781316106754.011 Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans Cambridge University Press Enzel, Yehouda and Bar-Yosef, OferEditors 99–106 Nicolas Waldmann article 10.1130/B31357.1 {Thick sequences of salt (halite) have been recovered in a 456-m-long core drilled at the deepest floor of the Dead Sea by the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project and extending ∼200 k.y. back in time. The salt sequences were precipitated in the ancient lake that occupied the Dead Sea Basin during the last three interglacials during intervals of extreme aridity in the lake’s watershed. The salt layers alternate with “mud” layers that indicate wetter periods in the watershed, when floods transported fine detritus matter to the lake. The salt sources include brine discharge and freshwater runoff that dissolved halite units. Dissolved salts accumulated in the lake during glacials and relatively wet periods when the lake expanded, and precipitated during interglacials when the lake levels dropped.This study establishes for the first time the evaporite facies and sedimentological features of the deep Dead Sea brine during interglacial periods, by using the modern precipitation of halite in the Dead Sea as an analogue for past halite depositional periods as recorded in the drill core. The halite intervals provide a record of facies characterizing a deep-water evaporitic environment. The halite layers consist mainly of two types of crystals: small cumulate crystals containing halite rafts, which indicate precipitation from the surface brine of the lake (epilimnion), and bottom-growth (usually large) halite crystals that precipitated on the lake floor (hypolimnion). The layers of small halite crystals formed during drier periods as compared to the bottom-growth crystals. The bottom-growth halite crystals contain variable quantities of detritus and show mild dissolution structures at the contact between the mud and the halite crystals. These two main types of halite, in combination with “muds” and gypsum, comprise seven categories of salt facies that reflect the hydrological conditions (dry-to-wet), and that display a cyclic (decadal to millennial) pattern along the sampled core intervals. Frequent alternation of these two salt crystal types suggests seasonal changes, whereby the small cumulate crystals were formed during the summer, and the bottom-growth crystals were formed during the winter, when the surface temperatures of the lake were low, and the surface water was less saline and less likely to be saturated with respect to halite. Comparison of the last interglacial halite with the modern halite facies, together with the absence of significant dissolution features within the halite and the cyclic nature of the facies, indicates that the lake was continuously deep (>100 m) during the last 200 k.y.} 2016 05 0016-7606 10.1130/B31357.1 GSA Bulletin 128 824-841 5-6 https://doi.org/10.1130/B31357.1 Yael Kiro Steven L. Goldstein Boaz Lazar Mordechai Stein article Neugebauer201675 The new sediment record from the deep Dead Sea basin (ICDP core 5017-1) provides a unique archive for hydroclimatic variability in the Levant. Here, we present highresolution sediment facies analysis and elemental composition by micro-X-ray fluorescence (ìXRF) scanning of core 5017-1 to trace lake levels and responses of the regional hydroclimatology during the time interval from ca. 117 to 75 ka, i.e. the transition between the last interglacial and the onset of the last glaciation. We distinguished six major micro-facies types and interpreted these and their alterations in the core in terms of relative lake level changes. The two end-member facies for highest and lowest lake levels are (a) up to several metres thick, greenish sediments of alternating aragonite and detrital marl laminae (aad) and (b) thick halite facies, respectively. Intermediate lake levels are characterised by detrital marls with varying amounts of aragonite, gypsum or halite, reflecting lower-amplitude, shorter-term variability. Two intervals of pronounced lake level drops occurred at ∼110-1085 and ∼93-87±7 ka. They likely coincide with stadial conditions in the central Mediterranean (Melisey I and II pollen zones in Monticchio) and low global sea levels during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5d and 5b. However, our data do not support the current hypothesis of an almost complete desiccation of the Dead Sea during the earlier of these lake level low stands based on a recovered gravel layer. Based on new petrographic analyses, we propose that, although it was a low stand, this well-sorted gravel layer may be a vestige of a thick turbidite that has been washed out during drilling rather than an in situ beach deposit. Two intervals of higher lake stands at ∼108-93±6 and ∼87-75±7 ka correspond to interstadial conditions in the central Mediterranean, i.e. pollen zones St. Germain I and II in Monticchio, and Greenland interstadials (GI) 24C23 and 21 in Greenland, as well as to sapropels S4 and S3 in the Mediterranean Sea. These apparent correlations suggest a close link of the climate in the Levant to North Atlantic and Mediterranean climates during the time of the build-up of Northern Hemisphere ice shields in the early last glacial period. © 2016 Author(s). 2016 English 18149324 10.5194/cp-12-75-2016 Climate of the Past 12 Copernicus GmbH 75-90 GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2, Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; University of Haifa, Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, Mount Carmel, 31905, Israel; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 3.1, Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam-Golm, 14476, Germany 1 climate variation; core analysis; deep-sea sediment; interstadial; lake level; Last Glacial; last glaciation; Last Interglacial; marine isotope stage; marl; microfacies; Northern Hemisphere; petrography; sapropel; turbidite, Arctic; Atlantic Ocean; Atlantic Ocean (North); Dead Sea; Greenland; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Mediterranean Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84956618731&doi=10.5194%2fcp-12-75-2016&partnerID=40&md5=e2b72dac578603b39d78e6de9e2c1d99 cited By 28 I. Neugebauer M.J. Schwab N.D. Waldmann R. Tjallingii U. Frank E. Hadzhiivanova R. Naumann N. Taha A. Agnon Y. Enzel A. Brauer article Thomas2016118 A study of an International Continental Drilling Program core recovered from the middle of the modern Dead Sea has identified microbial traces within this subsurface hypersaline environment. A comparison with an active microbial mat exhibiting similar evaporative processes characterized iron-sulphur mineralization and exopolymeric substances resulting from microbial activity. Exopolymeric substances were identified in the drilled sediment but unlike other hypersaline environments, it appears that they have a limited effect on the precipitation of calcium carbonate in the sedimentary column. Sulphate reduction, however, plays a role in all types of evaporative facies, leading to the formation of diagenetic iron sulphides in glacial and interglacial intervals. Their synthesis seems to occur under progressive sulphidation that generally stops at greigite because of incomplete sulphate reduction. The latter may be caused by a lack of suitable organic matter in this hypersaline, hence energy-demanding, environment. Pyrite may be found in periods of high lake productivity, when more labile organic matter is available. The carbon and sulphur cycles are thus influenced by microbial activity in the Dead Sea environment and this influence results in diagenetic transformations in the deep sediment. © 2016 The Authors. The Depositional Record published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Sedimentologists. 2016 English 20554877 10.1002/dep2.16 Depositional Record 2 John Wiley and Sons Inc 118-138 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, rue des Maraichers 13, Geneva, CH 1205, Switzerland; Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, IL 91904, United States; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Rt. 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, IL 95501, United States; UMR 42 CARRTEL, Alpine Research Center on Lake Food Webs, University of Savoie Mont-Blanc, Le Bourget du Lac, 73376, France 1 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85027698601&doi=10.1002%2fdep2.16&partnerID=40&md5=e4ccb2e03f5c40a42825b769e1b86fe1 cited By 12 C. Thomas Y. Ebert Y. Kiro M. Stein D. Ariztegui article López-Merino201649 Lacustrine laminated sediments are often varves representing annual rhythmic deposition. The Dead Sea high-stand laminated sections consist of mm-scale alternating detrital and authigenic aragonite laminae. Previous studies assumed these laminae were varves deposited seasonally. However, this assumption has never been robustly validated. Here we report an examination of the seasonal deposition of detrital-aragonite couplets from two well-known Late Holocene laminated sections at the Ze'elim fan-delta using palynology and grain-size distribution analyses. These analyses are complemented by the study of contemporary flash-flood samples and multivariate statistical analysis. Because transport affects the pollen preservation state, well-preserved (mostly) air-borne transported pollen was analysed separately from badly-preserved pollen and fungal spores, which are more indicative of water transport and reworking from soils. Our results indicate that (i) both detrital and aragonite laminae were deposited during the rainy season; (ii) aragonite laminae have significantly lower reworked and fungal spore concentrations than detrital and flash-flood samples; and (iii) detrital laminae are composed of recycling of local and distal sources, with coarser particles that were initially deposited in the Dead Sea watershed and later transported via run-off to the lake. This is in line with previous carbon balance studies that showed that aragonite precipitation occurs after the massive input of TCO2 associated with run-off episodes. Consequently, at least for the Holocene Ze'elim Formation, laminated sediments cannot be considered as varves. Older Quaternary laminated sequences should be re-evaluated. © 2016 The Authors. 2016 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.024 Quaternary Science Reviews 140 Elsevier Ltd 49-66 Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom; The Ted Arisson Airborne Allergens Monitoring Laboratory, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel; Dr Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel Deposition; Floods; Fungi; Grain size and shape; Multivariant analysis; Particle size analysis; Seawater; Sediments, Air borne; Aragonite; Dead sea; Flash flood; Laminated sediments; Reworked pollen, Carbonate minerals, aragonite; carbon balance; flash flood; fungus; Holocene; lacustrine deposit; lamination; palynology; reworking; runoff; spore; varve; watershed, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84961990942&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2016.03.024&partnerID=40&md5=9ac261d56af1ef441f3ed47e008cad30 cited By 21 L. López-Merino S.A.G. Leroy A. Eshel V. Epshtein R. Belmaker R. Bookman article Torfstein2015235 Sediment cores recovered by the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project (DSDDP) from the deepest basin of the hypersaline, terminal Dead Sea (lake floor at ~725 m below mean sea level) reveal the detailed climate history of the lake's watershed during the last interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5; MIS5). The results document both a more intense aridity during MIS5 than during the Holocene, and the moderating impacts derived from the intense MIS5e African Monsoon. Early MIS5e (~133-128 ka) was dominated by hyperarid conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant, indicated by thick halite deposition triggered by a lake-level drop. Halite deposition was interrupted however, during the MIS5e peak (~128-122 ka) by sequences of flood deposits, which are coeval with the timing of the intense precession-forced African monsoon that generated Mediterranean sapropel S5. A subsequent weakening of this humidity source triggered extreme aridity in the Dead Sea watershed and resulting in the biggest known lake level drawdown in its history, reflected by the deposition of thick salt layers, and a capping pebble layer corresponding to a hiatus at ~116-110 ka. The DSDDP core provides the first evidence for a direct association of the African monsoon with mid subtropical latitude climate systems effecting the Dead Sea watershed. Combined with coeval deposition of Arabia and southern Negev speleothems, Arava travertines, and calcification of Red Sea corals, the evidence points to a climatically wet corridor that could have facilitated homo sapiens migration "out of Africa" during the MIS5e peak. The hyperaridity documented during MIS5e may provide an important analogue for future warming of arid regions of the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved. 2015 English 0012821X 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.12.013 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 412 Elsevier 235-244 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Rt. 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Interuniversity Institute of Marine Sciences, Eilat, 88103, Israel; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Rt. 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; ETH Zürich, Geologisches Institut, NO G 51.1, Sonneggstrasse 5, Zürich, 8092, Switzerland; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem, 95501, Israel Arid regions; Atmospheric thermodynamics; Biomineralization; Deposition; Glacial geology; Isotopes; Lakes; Sea level; Seawater; Watersheds, African monsoons; Dead sea; Last interglacial; Levant; Paleoclimates; Sapropel, Chloride minerals, aridity; deposition; drawdown; flood deposit; Holocene; humidity; Last Interglacial; monsoon; paleoclimate; sapropel, Dead Sea; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Mediterranean Sea; Mediterranean Sea (East), Anthozoa; Homo sapiens https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84920911815&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2014.12.013&partnerID=40&md5=ab516780fc03f928c45a8f02b7929ef1 cited By 95 A. Torfstein S.L. Goldstein Y. Kushnir Y. Enzel G. Haug M. Stein article Neugebauer20151358 Laminated lake sediments from the Dead Sea basin provide high-resolution records of climatic variability in the eastern Mediterranean region, which is especially sensitive to changing climatic conditions. In this study, we aim on detailed reconstruction of climatic fluctuations and related changes in the frequency of flood and dust deposition events at ca. 3300 and especially at 2800 cal. yr BP from high-resolution sediment records of the Dead Sea basin. A ca. 4-m-thick, mostly varved sediment section from the western margin of the Dead Sea (DSEn – Ein Gedi profile) was analysed and correlated to the new International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project core 5017-1 from the deep basin. To detect even single event layers, we applied a multi-proxy approach of high-resolution microscopic thin section analyses, micro-X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) element scanning and magnetic susceptibility measurements, supported by grain size data and palynological analyses. Based on radiocarbon and varve dating, two pronounced dry periods were detected at ~3500–3300 and ~3000–2400 cal. yr BP which are differently expressed in the sediment records. In the shallow-water core (DSEn), the older dry period is characterised by a thick sand deposit, whereas the sedimentological change at 2800 cal. yr BP is less pronounced and characterised mainly by an enhanced frequency of coarse detrital layers interpreted as erosion events. In the 5017-1 deep-basin core, both dry periods are depicted by halite deposits. The onset of the younger dry period coincides with the Homeric Grand Solar Minimum at ca. 2800 cal. yr BP. Our results suggest that during this period, the Dead Sea region experienced an overall dry climate, superimposed by an increased occurrence of flash floods caused by a change in synoptic weather patterns. © The Author(s) 2015. 2015 English 09596836 10.1177/0959683615584208 Holocene 25 SAGE Publications Ltd 1358-1371 Section 5.2 – Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam, Germany; Dr. Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel; Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan; Steinmann Institute of Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology, University of Bonn, Germany 8 dust; extreme event; flash flood; Holocene; lacustrine deposit; marine sediment; microfacies; paleoclimate; palynology; temporal period; varve, Dead Sea; Mediterranean Region https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84936804520&doi=10.1177%2f0959683615584208&partnerID=40&md5=8ee7ac11b8e3a6f5369fa1d15a62d72e cited By 43 I. Neugebauer A. Brauer M.J. Schwab P. Dulski U. Frank E. Hadzhiivanova H. Kitagawa T. Litt V. Schiebel N. Taha N.D. Waldmann article Thomas2015546 A long sedimentary core has been recently retrieved from the Dead Sea Basin (DSB) within the framework of the ICDP-sponsored Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project. Contrasting climatic intervals were evident by distinctive lithological facies such as laminated aragonitic muds and evaporites. A geomicrobiological investigation was conducted in representative sediments of this core. To identify the microbial assemblages present in the sediments and their evolution with changing depositional environments through time, the diversity of the 16S rRNA gene was analyzed in gypsum, aragonitic laminae, and halite samples. The subsurface microbial community was largely dominated by the Euryarchaeota phylum (Archaea). Within the latter, Halobacteriaceae members were ubiquitous, probably favored by their 'high salt-in' osmotic adaptation which also makes them one of the rare inhabitants of the modern Dead Sea. Bacterial community members were scarce, emphasizing that the 'low salt-in' strategy is less suitable in this environment. Substantial differences in assemblages are observed between aragonitic sediments and gypsum-halite ones, independently of the depth and salinity. The aragonite sample, deposited during humid periods when the lake was stratified, consists mostly of the archaeal MSBL1 and bacterial KB1 Candidate Divisions. This consortium probably relies on compatible solutes supplied from the lake by halotolerant species present in these more favorable periods. In contrast, members of the Halobacteriaceae were the sole habitants of the gypsum-halite sediments which result from a holomictic lake. Although the biomass is low, these variations in the observed subsurface microbial populations appear to be controlled by biological conditions in the water column at the time of sedimentation, and subsequently by the presence or absence of stratification and dilution in the lake. As the latter are controlled by climatic changes, our data suggest a relationship between local lacustrine subsurface microbial assemblages and large-scale climatic variations over the Dead Sea Basin. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2015 English 14724677 10.1111/gbi.12151 Geobiology 13 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 546-561 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Stechlin, Germany 6 climate variation; halite; lacustrine deposit; lithology; microbial community; paleoclimate; salinity; sediment core; sedimentation rate, Dead Sea, Archaea; Bacteria (microorganisms); Euryarchaeota; Halobacteriaceae, archaeal DNA; RNA 16S; salt water, archaeon; classification; climate; DNA sequence; Euryarchaeota; genetics; isolation and purification; Israel; Jordan; microbiology; molecular genetics; phylogeny; sediment, Archaea; Climate; DNA, Archaeal; Euryarchaeota; Geologic Sediments; Israel; Jordan; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Saline Waters; Sequence Analysis, DNA https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84944145632&doi=10.1111%2fgbi.12151&partnerID=40&md5=10c4d45160776d89c4c0e7f2acd7bdd3 cited By 14 C. Thomas D. Ionescu D. Ariztegui The team article Ariztegui20151655 Recently, the discovery of active microbial life in deep-sea sediments has triggered a rapid development of the field known as the “deep biosphere.” Geomicrobiological investigations in lacustrine basins have also shown a substantial microbial impact on lake sediments similar to that described for the marine record. Although only 30 % of the lake sites drilled by the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) have included microbial investigations, these lakes cover a relatively wide range of salinities (from 0.15 to 33.8 %), pH (from 6.0 to 9.8) and environmental conditions (from very arid to humid subtropical conditions). Here, we analyze results of very recent ICDP lake sites including subsurface biosphere research from southern Patagonia (Laguna Potrok Aike) to the Levantine area (Dead Sea) as well as the East Anatolian high plateau (Lake Van) and Macedonia (Lake Ohrid). These various settings allow the examination of the impact of contrasting environments on microbial activity and their subsequent role during early diagenesis. Furthermore, they permit the identification of biosignatures of former microbial activity recorded in the sediments as well as investigating the impact of microbes in biogeochemical cycles. One of the general outcomes of these preliminary investigations is data to support the hypothesis that microbes react to climatically driven environmental changes that have a direct impact on their subsurface distribution and diversity. This is clear at conspicuous levels associated with well-known climatic periods such as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly or the Little Ice Age. Although more research is needed, this relationship between prevailing microbial assemblages and different climatic settings appears to dominate the lacustrine sites studied until to date. © 2015, The Author(s). 2015 English 14373254 10.1007/s00531-015-1148-4 International Journal of Earth Sciences 104 Springer Verlag 1655-1665 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, rue des Maraichers 13, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland; Section 4.5 Geomicrobiology, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research for Geosciences, Potsdam, 14473, Germany 6 biosphere; deep-sea sediment; diagenesis; drilling; environmental change; genomics; geological record; geomicrobiology; lacustrine deposit; microbial activity; paleoclimate; sedimentary basin, Argentina; Dead Sea; Laguna Potrok Aike; Lake Ohrid; Lake Van; Levantine Sea; Mediterranean Sea; Patagonia; Santa Cruz [Argentina]; Turkey https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84940958158&doi=10.1007%2fs00531-015-1148-4&partnerID=40&md5=0af1c04e97299773cc0ebbf26995db8d cited By 18 D. Ariztegui C. Thomas A. Vuillemin article Lazar201494 The geological evolution of the unique Dead Sea Ca-chloride brine has been the focus of many research efforts for several decades. These studies relied on the information obtained from sedimentary exposures of the marginal terraces of the modern Dead Sea, mostly documenting the history of the surface lake brine during its high stands periods. The present study is the first attempt to establish the history of the deepest part of the lake by direct measurements of the chemical and isotopic composition of pore-fluids that were extracted from cores drilled during 2011 by ICDP in the deep basin of the Dead Sea at water depth of 300 m. The vertical profiles of chloride (Cl-) and oxygen isotopes (δO18) in pore brines reveal a substantial decrease in the salinity of the hyper-saline lake during the last glacial and particularly during MIS2 (~31-17 kaBP). The Cl- concentration of the deep brine in the lake decreased gradually, reaching a minimum of less than 2/3 of its present value while the δO18 increased to maximum of ~7‰ (3‰ higher than today). The low Cl- indicates significant dilution of the bottom water mass (hypolimnion) of Lake Lisan (the last glacial predecessor of the modern Dead Sea) during its highest stand period. Beforehand, during the interglacial and later during the post-glacial and the Holocene the Cl- concentrations and δO18 values were similar to those of the modern Dead Sea. The slow dilution of the deep Ca-chloride brine was caused probably by continuous turbulent mixing of the hypolimnion with the less saline high δO18 epilimnetic brine, across the epilimnion/hypolimnion interface (EHI). While the increase in δO18 during the salinity decrease of Lake Lisan is a result of "normal" evaporation of the less saline epilimnetic brine, the post-glacial δO18 decrease (contemporaneous with salinity increase) is attributed to the "reversed" behavior of δO18 during evaporation of high salinity brine. During the long freshening period the hypolimnion was enriched with dissolved sulfate supplied by the freshwater and transported by the turbulent mixing across the EHI until reaching gypsum saturation that commenced massive gypsum deposition at the end of this period, when full overturn took place. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. 2014 English 0012821X 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.019 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 400 Elsevier 94-101 Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel; Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, United Kingdom Calcium; Chlorine; Chlorine compounds; Evaporation; Glacial geology; Gypsum; Isotopes; Lakes; Mixing; Oxygen; Paleolimnology; Shock tubes; Turbulent flow, Chloride; Dead sea; Oxygen isotopes; Pore brine profiles; Quarter-nary, Brines, brine; Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project; chloride; isotopic composition; oxygen isotope; paleolimnology; Quaternary, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84901838098&doi=10.1016%2fj.epsl.2014.03.019&partnerID=40&md5=26585071502ac4171b5cc6f9a7e6f6bd cited By 24 B. Lazar O. Sivan Y. Yechieli E.J. Levy G. Antler I. Gavrieli M. Stein article Neugebauer2014149 The sedimentary sections that were deposited from the Holocene Dead Sea and its Pleistocene precursors are excellent archives of the climatic, environmental and seismic history of the Levant region. Yet, most of the previous work has been carried out on sequences of lacustrine sediments exposed at the margins of the present-day Dead Sea, which were deposited only when the lake surface level rose above these terraces (e.g. during the Last Glacial period) and typically are discontinuous due to major lake level variations in the past. Continuous sedimentation can only be expected in the deepest part of the basin and, therefore, a deep drilling has been accomplished in the northern basin of the Dead Sea during winter of 2010-2011 within the Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project (DSDDP) in the framework of the ICDP program. Approximately 720m ofsediment cores have been retrieved from two deep and several short boreholes. The longest profile (5017-1), revealed at a water depth of ~300m, reaches 455m below the lake floor (blf, i.e. to ~1175m below global mean sea level) and comprises approximately the last 220-240ka. The record covers the upper part of the Amora (penultimate glacial), the Last Interglacial Samra,the Last Glacial Lisan and the Holocene Ze'elim Formations and, therewith, two entire glacial-interglacial cycles. Thereby, for the first time, consecutive sediments deposited during the MIS 6/5, 5/4 and 2/1 transitions were recovered from the Dead Sea basin, which are not represented in sediments outcropping on the present-day lake shores. In this paper, we present essential lithological data including continuous magnetic susceptibility and geochemical scanning data and the basic stratigraphy including first chronological data of the long profile (5017-1) from the deep basin. The results presented here (a) focus on the correlation of the deep basin deposits with main on-shore stratigraphic units, thus providing a unique comprehensive stratigraphic framework for regional paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and (b) highlight the outstanding potential of the Dead Sea deep sedimentary archive to record hydrological changes during interglacial, glacial and transitional intervals. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. 2014 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.08.013 Quaternary Science Reviews 102 Elsevier Ltd 149-165 Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2 - Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany; Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Israel; Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, Bergen, 5007, Norway; The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel; Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan; The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences of Eilat, Eilat, 88103, Israel; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue des Maraichers 13, Geneva, CH-1205, Switzerland; Department of Geophysical, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel; Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel Glacial geology; Infill drilling; Lakes; Lithology; Magnetic susceptibility; Salinity measurement; Sea level; Sedimentology; Stratigraphy, Deep drilling; Hypersaline lakes; Laminated sediments; Paleoclimates; Sediment facies, Sediments, deep drilling; depositional sequence; facies; Holocene; hypersaline environment; lithology; magnetic susceptibility; ocean basin; outcrop; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; sediment core; sedimentation; sequence stratigraphy; water depth, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84908166752&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2014.08.013&partnerID=40&md5=a64030e7bcbe347ee93f60a163f97504 cited By 86 I. Neugebauer A. Brauer M.J. Schwab N.D. Waldmann Y. Enzel H. Kitagawa A. Torfstein U. Frank P. Dulski A. Agnon D. Ariztegui Z. Ben-Avraham S.L. Goldstein M. Stein DSDDP Scientific Party article Çağatay201497 Sedimentary, geochemical and mineralogical analyses of the ICDP cores recovered from the Northern Basin (NB) of Lake Van provide evidence of lake level and climatic changes related to orbital and North Atlantic climate system over the last 90ka. High lake levels are generally observed during the interglacial and interstadial periods, which are marked by deposition of varved sediments with high total organic carbon (TOC), total inorganic carbon (TIC), low detrital influx (high Ca/F) and high δ18O and δ13C values of authigenic carbonate. During the glacial and stadial periods of 71-58kaBP (Marine Isotope Stage 4, MIS4) and end of last glaciation-deglaciation (30-14.5kaBP; MIS3) relatively low lake levels prevailed, and grey homogeneous to faintly laminated clayey silts were deposited at high sedimentation and low organic productivity rates.Millennial-scale variability of the proxies during 60-30kaBP (MIS3 is correlated with the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O)) and Holocene abrupt climate events in the Atlantic. These events are characterized by laminated sediments, with high TOC, TIC, Ca/Fe, δ18O and δ13C values. The Lake Van NB records correlate well in the region with the climate records from the lakes Zeribar and Urmia in Iran and the Sofular Cave in NW Anatolia, but are in general in anti-phase to those from the Dead Sea Basin (Lake Lisan) in the Levant. The relatively higher δ18O values (0 to-0.4‰) for the interglacial and interstadial periods in the Lake Van NB section are due to the higher temperature and seasonality of precipitation and higher evaporation, whereas the lower values (-0.8 to-2‰) during the glacial and stadial periods are caused mainly by relative decrease in both temperature and seasonality of precipitation. The high δ18O values (up to 4.2‰) during the Younger Dryas, together with the presence of dolomite and low TOC contents, supports evaporative conditions and low lake level. A gradual decrease in the δ18O values from an average of-0.4‰ during the humid early Holocene to an average of-3.5‰ during the more arid late Holocene suggests an increasing contribution of winter precipitation. The changes in the seasonality of precipitation in eastern Anatolia are probably caused by changes in the temperatures of North Atlantic and Mediterranean and in the strength of Siberian High. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. 2014 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.09.027 Quaternary Science Reviews 104 Elsevier Ltd 97-116 Istanbul Technical University, Eastern Mediterranean Centre for Oceanography and Limnology (EMCOL), Ayazağa Kampusu, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey; Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines, Geological Engineering Department, Turkey; Istanbul Technical University, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Turkey; Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Surface Waters Research and Management, Switzerland; ETH, Geological Institute, Zurich Universitaetsstrasse 5, Zurich, 8092, Switzerland; Firat University, Department of Geological Engineering, Elaziğ, Turkey Climate record; ICDP PaleoVan; Lake levels; Lake vans; Multproxy analyses; Northern basins, authigenesis; climate variation; Dansgaard-Oeschger cycle; Holocene; interstadial; lake level; marine isotope stage; paleoclimate; precipitation (climatology); proxy climate record, Anatolia; Atlantic Ocean; Iran; Kordestan; Lake Urmia; Lake Van; Lake Zeribar; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Turkey https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84909599486&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2014.09.027&partnerID=40&md5=45d48abb11b99b381346a3ee8fb940b6 cited By 73 M.N. Çağatay N. Öğretmen E. Damci M. Stockhecke Ü. Sancar K.K. Eriş S. Özeren article Liu20132229 Rock varnish from 14.6 to 13.2 ka recessional shorelines of late glacial Lake Lisan and fan delta surfaces between 280 and 365 m bmsl (meters below mean sea level) along the western margins of the Dead Sea contains replicable layering patterns, characterized by a low Mn and Ba orange/yellow surface layer and a high Mn and Ba dark basal layer. The deposition of the dark basal layers immediately after the lake recession represents a wet period coinciding with the Younger Dryas (YD) cooling (12.9-11.6 ka), manifesting the influence of midlatitude westerly winds in the eastern Mediterranean-central Levant (EM-CL). In contrast, varnish from the distal base of fan deltas contains only orange/yellow surface layers, diagnostic of the Holocene relatively dry climate. The absence of the dark basal layers in the varnish further indicates a YD high stand at ∼365 m bmsl and a lake level rise of at least 100 m from its Bølling-Ållerød lowstand. This rise stands in contrast to the abrupt drop of the lake level during the Heinrich (H1) cold event, illustrating the opposite response of the EM-CL climate to changes in the North Atlantic climate. The YD wet event most likely reflects a southward shift of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation-modulated midlatitude westerly wind belt in the EM-CL region. © 2013 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. 2013 English 00948276 10.1002/grl.50492 Geophysical Research Letters 40 2229-2235 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, United States; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel 10 Dead sea; Dead sea basins; Mean sea level; North Atlantic; Rock varnishes; Surface layers; wet event; Younger Dryas, Lakes; Manganese; Sea level; Varnish, Climate change, belt; depositional environment; glacial environment; Holocene; meridional circulation; shoreline; surface layer, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84879951769&doi=10.1002%2fgrl.50492&partnerID=40&md5=a1d7c23d93efd09294ebd83a79aa4570 cited By 22 T. Liu W.S. Broecker M. Stein article Williams20121219 This article examines a report in the 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament that an earthquake was felt in Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. We have tabulated a varved chronology from a core from Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea between deformed sediments due to a widespread earthquake in 31 BC and deformed sediments due to an early first-century earthquake. The early first-century seismic event has been tentatively assigned a date of 31 AD with an accuracy of 5 years. Plausible candidates include the earthquake reported in the Gospel of Matthew, an earthquake that occurred sometime before or after the crucifixion and was in effect borrowed by the author of the Gospel of Matthew, and a local earthquake between 26 and 36 AD that was sufficiently energetic to deform the sediments at Ein Gedi but not energetic enough to produce a still extant and extra-biblical historical record. If the last possibility is true, this would mean that the report of an earthquake in the Gospel of Matthew is a type of allegory. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. 2012 English 00206814 10.1080/00206814.2011.639996 International Geology Review 54 1219-1228 Supersonic Geophysical, LLC, Los Angeles, CA 90042, United States; GFZ - German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2 Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, 14473, Potsdam, Germany 10 chronology; earthquake; Holocene; seismicity; varve, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84861801572&doi=10.1080%2f00206814.2011.639996&partnerID=40&md5=0d8bc24d76c84ee41f2a05d8dbc0d097 cited By 5 J.B. Williams M.J. Schwab A. Brauer article Litt201295 The Dead Sea, located at the deepest place on continent and between the subtropical Mediterranean zone and the desert, reflects in its water composition and levels, and sedimentary records the hydrological conditions in the southern Levant region. Temporal variations in rainfall and temperatures of the Holocene Levant are reconstructed here from pollen data recovered from a sediment core drilled at the Ein Gedi shore, applying a novel biome model based on Bayesian statistics. Our results suggest that the region was arid and warm in the early Holocene period (~10-6.5 ka cal BP), wetter and colder in the mid Holocene (6.3-3.3 ka cal BP), and drier and warmer in the late Holocene (~3.2 ka cal BP to present). These periods comprise multi-centennial climate cycles that are characterized by rapid changes in temperature and precipitation reflecting Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and atmospheric conditions over the Atlantic Ocean. The pollen record responds within a short time interval to the climate conditions and marks rapid shifts from Mediterranean to desert environmental conditions and back in the southern Levant region. We also evaluate our results in the light of possible disturbances of the natural vegetation, e.g. the possibility of forest decrease, since the Neolithic. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. 2012 English 02773791 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.06.012 Quaternary Science Reviews 49 95-105 Steinmann Institute of Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany; Meteorological Institute, University of Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 20, 53121 Bonn, Germany; Paleobotany Research Group, University of Münster, Schlossplatz 9, 48143 Münster, Germany; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, 85501 Jerusalem, Israel Atlantic Ocean; Atmospheric conditions; Bayesian statistics; Climate condition; Climate cycle; Dead sea; Environmental conditions; Holocene climate variability; Holocenes; Hydrological condition; Late Holocene; Model-based OPC; Natural vegetation; Near East; Paleoclimatology; Palynology; Pollen data; Rapid shifts; Sea surface temperature (SST); Sediment core; Sedimentary records; Short time intervals; Temporal variation; Water composition, Sedimentology; Structural analysis, Climatology, Bayesian analysis; climate conditions; climate cycle; climate variation; desert; environmental disturbance; Holocene; Neolithic; paleoclimate; paleotemperature; palynology; precipitation (climatology); quantitative analysis; reconstruction; sea surface temperature; sediment core; temporal variation; vegetation dynamics; water level; water quality, Dead Sea; En Gedi; Levant; Mediterranean Region; Occupied Territories; West Bank https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84864412881&doi=10.1016%2fj.quascirev.2012.06.012&partnerID=40&md5=96b2304345def2e4b6ff1337b854b5fe cited By 125 T. Litt C. Ohlwein F.H. Neumann A. Hense M. Stein article Stein2011453 The area surrounding the Dead Sea was the locus of humankind's migration out of Africa and thus has been the home of peoples since the Stone Age. For this reason, understanding the climate and tectonic history of the region provides valuable insight into archaeology and studies of human history and helps to gain a better picture of future climate and tectonic scenarios. The deposits at the bottom of the Dead Sea are a geological archive of the environmental conditions (e.g., rains, floods, dust storms, droughts) during ice ages and warm ages, as well as of seismic activity in this key region. An International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) deep drilling project was performed in the Dead Sea between November 2010 and March 2011. The project was funded by the ICDP and agencies in Israel, Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States. Drilling was conducted using the new Large Lake Drilling Facility (Figure 1), a barge with a drilling rig run by DOSECC, Inc. (Drilling, Observation and Sampling of the Earth's Continental Crust), a nonprofit corporation dedicated to advancing scientific drilling worldwide. The main purpose of the project was to recover a long, continuous core to provide a high resolution record of the paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, paleoseismicity, and paleomagnetism of the Dead Sea Basin. With this, scientists are beginning to piece together a record of the climate and seismic history of the Middle East during the past several hundred thousand years in millennial to decadal to annual time resolution. 2011 English 00963941 10.1029/2011EO490001 Eos 92 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 453-454 Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States 49 archaeology; deep drilling; drilling rig; environmental conditions; paleoclimate; paleoenvironment; paleomagnetism; paleoseismicity; Stone Age; tectonic structure, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-83655193054&doi=10.1029%2f2011EO490001&partnerID=40&md5=8565ca73f9cc769fabc4fbd632e1dcc6 cited By 25 M. Stein Z. Ben-Avraham S.L. Goldstein article sd11462011 2011 10.2204/iodp.sd.11.04.2011 Scientific Drilling 11 46-47 https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/11/46/2011/ M. Stein Z. Ben-Avraham S. Goldstein A. Agnon D. Ariztegui A. Brauer G. Haug E. Ito Y. Yasuda article Kagan2011 2011 English 21699313 Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 116 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 11 https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-82155195575&partnerID=40&md5=06d29fdf4f3da50c51482b853e49e2fb cited By 6 E. Kagan M. Stein A. Agnon F. Neumann article Kagan2011 A comprehensive multisite paleoseismic archive of the late Holocene Dead Sea basin (past 2500 years) is established by constructing two age-depth chronological models of two sedimentary sections exposed at the retreating shores of the modern Dead Sea. Two new paleoseismic study sites studied are the Ein Feshkha Nature Reserve outcrop located at the northern part of the basin and close to an active underwater transverse fault and the east Ze'elim Gully outcrop at the southern part of the basin. Age-depth regression models are calculated for these sections based on atmospheric radiocarbon ages of short-lived organic debris calibrated with a Bayesian model. The uncertainties on individual model ages are smaller than 100 years. The new chronological records are compared to a laminae-counting study of the Ein Gedi core (Migowski et al., 2004) located at the central Dead Sea basin. The Ein Feshkha outcrop yielded the largest number of seismites in the studied time interval (n = 52), while lower numbers of seismites are recovered from the Ze'elim outcrop and Ein Gedi core (n = 15 and 36, respectively). The seismites show no strong dependence on the limnological-sedimentological conditions in the particular sampling sites (they coappear in both shallow and deep water environments and in different sedimentary facies). During time intervals when the chronologies are comparable it appears that the number of seismites is significantly larger in the northern part of the basin (Ein Gedi and Ein Feshkha). Seismic quiescence intervals are apparent at all three sites from 2nd-4th century A.D. and at 500-150 B.C. at Ze'elim and Ein Gedi. Several synchronous seismites appear in all sections (termed here the intrabasin seismites (IBS)). Among them: 1927, 1293, 1202/1212, 749, 551, 419, and 33 A.D. and 31 and mid-2nd century B.C. The recurrence time of the IBS from the 2nd century B.C. to the 14th century A.D. is ∼200 years, compared with ∼100 years for all earthquakes. On a diagram of epicentral distance versus magnitude, historic earthquakes that are correlated with IBS plot in a field of high local intensity. The farther and stronger IBS earthquakes require lower local intensities to be recorded. This study demonstrates that a painstaking effort is still needed for unraveling the seismic history of the Dead Sea basin. The results also indicate that such a study will likely be highly rewarding. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union. 2011 English 21699313 10.1029/2010JB007452 Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 116 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., 95501, Jerusalem, Israel; Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology, Bonn, Germany; Forschungsstelle für Palobotanik Am Geologisch-Palontologischen Institut, Westflische Wilhelms-Universitt Münster, Müenster, Germany 4 Bayesian analysis; earthquake epicenter; earthquake intensity; earthquake magnitude; fault; geochronology; Holocene; limnology; outcrop; paleoseismicity; radiocarbon dating; sedimentology; seismite, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-79955449342&doi=10.1029%2f2010JB007452&partnerID=40&md5=a03723d82055830464e29df32f9dfa66 cited By 58 E. Kagan M. Stein A. Agnon F. Neumann article Alsop2011433 The Late Pleistocene Lisan Formation preserved next to the Dead Sea provides exceptional 3-D exposures of folds and faults generated during soft-sediment slumping and deformation. It is possible to generate a range of four different scenarios associated with overprinting in a single slump event. The progressive evolution of slump systems may be broadly categorised into initiation, translation, cessation, relaxation and compaction phases. Thrust packages typically define piggyback sequences during slump translation, with back-steepening of imbricate faults leading to collapse of folds back up the regional palaeoslope. Detailed evaluation of slumped horizons may also permit structures to be traced across apparently separate and distinct slumped units. The recognition that slumps may be reworked by younger seismically-triggered events suggests that in some cases the seismic recurrence interval may be shorter than previously anticipated. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. 2011 English 01918141 10.1016/j.jsg.2011.02.003 Journal of Structural Geology 33 433-457 Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, United Kingdom; Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel 4 Dead Sea; Folds; Gravity-driven deformation; Mass transport complexes; Slump, Anoxic sediments; Deformation; Earthquakes; Mass transfer; Sedimentology, Gravitation, deformation; earthquake; fold; mass transport; slumping, Dead Sea https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-79953024983&doi=10.1016%2fj.jsg.2011.02.003&partnerID=40&md5=2964740a02587761a42ac8df4619fb76 cited By 140 G.I. Alsop S. Marco