Content uploaded by Yin Lu
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Yin Lu on Jan 12, 2023
Content may be subject to copyright.
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
1
An edited version of this paper was published by
Quaternary Science Reviews
A 45 kyr laminae record from the Dead Sea: implications for basin erosion
and floods recurrence
Yin Lu1*, Revital Bookman2, Nicolas Waldmann2, Shmuel Marco3
1Sedimentology and marine paleoenvironmental dynamics Group, Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg 69120,
Germany
2Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel
3498838, Israel
3Department of Geophysics, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
*Correspondence to: yinlusedimentology@yeah.net; yinlu@tongji.edu,cn (Y. Lu)
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
2
Abstract
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 Basin 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 depocenter, which encompass the upper 141.6 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 that the
observed thickness and frequency distribution of aragonite-detritus laminae points to the high frequency of small-magnitude floods during the
last glacial period, in contrast to low frequency, but large-magnitude floods during the Holocene.
Keywords:
Aragonite-detritus laminae; Flash-floods; Magnitude-frequency; Basin erosion; Transport-limited regime; Climate change; Paleolimnology;
Dead Sea.
Highlights
An aragonite-detritus laminae record spanning the last 45 kyr from the Dead Sea depocenter
A decoupling existed between significant lake level drop/size reduction and detritus lamina thickness
The laminae are thinner and occur at high frequency during the Last Glacial
The laminae are much thicker and less frequent during the Holocene
High frequency of small floods in the Last Glacial and low frequency but large floods in the Holocene
1. Introduction
Understanding how climate change impacts flood recurrence, basin erosion, and sedimentation is essential for future flood warning, mitigation,
and hazard assessment especially in semi- to hyper-arid environments (e.g., Montz and Gruntfest, 2002; Bubeck et al., 2012). Previous studies
carried out in the United States show that the relative portion of very large discharges is much higher in arid regions than in more humid regions
(as was measured in 440 stream gauges with a mean recording period of 53 years) (Molnar et al., 2006). Aridification of a previously semi-
humid environment may have increased the relative magnitudes of rare floods (or, conversely, increased the frequency of large floods) (Molnar,
2001). However, the scarcity of long and reliable terrestrial archives of floods, which encompass at least the latest Holocene/Pleistocene climate
transition at high-resolution, hinders our further understanding of this issue.
Previous studies have utilized fluvial sediments (Kochel and Baker, 1982; Knox, 1993), lacustrine sequences (Brown et al., 2000;
Swierczynski et al., 2012; Wirth et al., 2013; Ahlborn et al., 2018; Ben Dor et al., 2018) and marine archives (Mulder et al., 2001) to reconstruct
paleoflood records and understand how climate change might have affected flood recurrence, surface erosion, and sedimentation. However,
these records are too short of representing paleoflood sequences occurring through a glacial-interglacial transition. Extending the time series
of reliable paleoflood records to cover at least the last glacial-interglacial transition is a key for understanding the impact of long-term climate
change on flood recurrence and basin erosion in hyper-arid environments prone to flash-floods.
The deposition of aragonite-detritus laminae couplets in the lacustrine sequences deposited during the Quaternary in the Dead Sea Basin
has been considered as resulting from climate-controlled runoff processes (Begin et al., 1974; Katz et al., 1977; Heim et al., 1997; Stein et al.,
1997; Prasad et al., 2004; Haliva-Cohen et al., 2012; Neugebauer et al., 2015; López-Merino et al., 2016). Therefore, these laminae couplets
represent seasonal variations and thus can serve as hydrologic gauges. We aim to exploit this “gauge” by analyzing the aragonite-detritus
laminae couplets spanning the last 45 kyr (MIS3-MIS1) as identified in a deep drilling (Core 5017-1) that was retrieved by the International
Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) in the Dead Sea depocenter. We discuss (i) forcing factors for the change in basin erosion and
detritus lamina thickness, and (ii) implications of lamina thickness-frequency distribution for floods magnitude-frequency distribution during
the last glacial and Holocene periods.
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
3
2. Geological setting and background
2.1. Physiography and hydrology of the Dead Sea drainage basin
The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake bordered by Jordanian plateau to the east and the Judean Mountains to the west. The lake stands as Earth's
exposed lowest elevation and the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. As of 2018, the Dead Sea has a surface area of ~600 km2 and a maximal
depth of ~295 m, with a surface level at ~432 m below mean sea level and a rate of retreat of ~1 m/y (Kottmeier et al., 2016). The Dead Sea
drainage basin occupies an area of ~42,200 km2 (Greenbaum et al., 2006), which encompasses several climate zones spanning from sub-humid
to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate in the north to Saharo-Arabian arid- hyper-arid conditions in the south (Langgut et al., 2014) (Fig. 1A).
The Jordan River, which originates in the north, is the main perennial river flowing into the Dead Sea. Furthermore, there are also some
perennial flows (>200 million m3) from the eastern part of the catchment, and some ephemeral streams flowing from the high Jordanian Plateau,
the Judean Mountains and Negev in the east, west and south, respectively (Fig. 1A).
Fig. 1. Geological setting of the
Dead Sea drainage basin and
location of the ICDP Core 5017-
1 (red star). A: Current
precipitation (gray isohyet lines,
in mm yr-1) (Enzel et al., 2003),
vegetation zones (shaded areas)
(Langgut et al., 2014), and Dead
Sea tributaries (yellow lines)
(Greenbaum et al., 2006) in the
drainage basin (enclosed by black
dashed line); the blue shaded area
within the drainage basin
represents maximum extent of
Lake Lisan (Bartov et al., 2002)
during the Last Glacial Maximum
(LGM); PZ, Perazim Valley; the
red points mark places referred to
this study. B: Dead Sea
bathymetric map (Sade et al.,
2014); the blue lines mark the
maximum extent of Lake Lisan;
the red points mark places
referred to this study.
2.2 Aragonite-detritus laminae couplet as reliable flood indicator in the Dead Sea depocenter
The Dead Sea Basin is located in the active Dead Sea Rift, a left-lateral ~1,000-km-long sinistral boundary between the African and Arabian
plates, characterized by a distinct topographic expression (Garfunkel, 2014) (Fig. 1A, B). The tectonic basin accommodated several water
bodies, from the Late Neogene Sedom Lagoon to the Quaternary lakes of Amora, Samra, Lisan and the Holocene Dead Sea (Bartov et al., 2002;
Bookman (Ken-Tor) et al., 2004; Waldmann et al., 2009). The lacustrine sequences comprise evaporates (e.g., aragonite, gypsum, salt) and
detritus sediments that record the climate and hydrological conditions in the Dead Sea watershed. In addition, the location of the Dead Sea
Basin within the transform fault zone makes seismic shaking another major transport agent for the generation of thick detritus layers (e.g.,
turbidites and homogenites) in the basin depocenter (Lu et al., 2017a; Kagan et al., 2018). For example, Fig. 2D and E are showing the seismic
trigger of turbidite and homogenite, respectively.
A significant portion of the lacustrine deposits in the Dead Sea Basin consist of aragonite-detritus laminae couplets. The laminae couples were
interpreted to result from the interplay of runoff processes controlled by the local hydrology and regional climate (e.g., Stein et al., 1997). The
detritus laminae are composed of allogenic quartz, calcite and clay minerals that were mainly deposited by floods during the rainy season
(Begin et al., 1974; Katz et al., 1977; Stein et al., 1997; Prasad et al., 2004; Haliva-Cohen et al., 2012). The aragonite laminae are composed
of authigenic aragonite crystals (Heim et al., 1997; Stein et al., 1997). Mixing process in the water body between Ca-chloride Dead Sea brine
(with high Ca content) and runoff freshwater (with high-bicarbonate content) during winter flooding has been suggested as the mechanism
triggering massive aragonite deposition (Barkan et al., 2001; Belmaker et al., 2019). Therefore, the aragonite laminae reflect the input of runoff
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
4
freshwater (Barkan et al., 2001), the aragonite-detritus laminae couplet thus can serve as a reliable indicator of floods, as has already been
shown (Ben Dor et al., 2018).
The typical Dead Sea aragonite-detritus laminae couplets were considered as varves since their counting is in agreement with radiocarbon
and U-Th dating for the time periods: 2.2-0.7 ka in the Ein Gedi core (Migowski et al., 2004), during 26.2-17.7 ka in the Massada outcrop
(Prasad et al., 2004) (Fig. 1B), and during two periods in the Lake Lisan level rise and drop (Ben Dor et al., 2018). While pollen analysis in
the Ze’elim outcrop (Fig. 1B) on separate aragonite and detritus laminae showed both could be deposited in the wet season, and that more than
one couplet could be deposited in one season (López-Merino et al., 2016). Thus, the pollen evidence doesn’t support the varve hypothesis of
the Holocene laminated sequences at the Ze’elim outcrop . In addition, aragonite laminae deposition, that was assumed to represent summer
evaporation (Heim et al., 1997; Stein et al., 1997; Prasad et al., 2004; Neugebauer et al., 2015), was shown to be affected by winter runoff
(Barkan et al., 2001) and flood water alkalinity (Belmaker et al., 2019). In this study, the aragonite-detritus laminae couplets were compared
between two time periods 45-11.6 ka and 11.6 ka to the present by assuming that in both time intervals the couplets have the same mechanism
of deposition and represent similar time-resolution that is controlled by the Dead Sea Basin flashflood regime.
3. Materials, chronology, and methods
3.1 Materials and chronology
A ~457 m ICDP composite Core 5017-1 was drilled at the Dead Sea depocenter under ~300 m of water (Stein et al., 2011). U-Th and 14C
dating constrain the age of the total penetrated depth at ~220 ka (Torfstein et al., 2015; Kitagawa et al., 2017). The drill core encompasses the
upper Amora Formation (Fm.) (~456.7-328.0 m; MIS 7c-6), Samra Fm. (~328.0-177.0 m; MIS 5), Lisan Fm. (~177.0-89.3 m; MIS 4-2), and
the Zeelim Fm. (~89.3-0 m; MIS 1) (Torfstein et al., 2015). In this paper, we focus on the uppermost 141.6 m, whose chronology is constrained
by thirty-one 14C ages with 1σ error (Kitagawa et al., 2017) and one U-Th age with 2σ error (Torfstein et al., 2015) (Fig. 2). The sedimentary
sequence spans the last ~45 kyr and is characterized by the alternating aragonite and detritus laminae (aad) facies interbedded with detritus
layers, e.g., turbidites and homogenites (Neugebauer et al., 2014; Lu et al., 2017a) (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. Age-depth plot and basic facies of the studied interval in the ICDP Core 5017-1. A: Marine isotope stage (MIS) and formation (Fm.) of the studied core
section (Torfstein et al., 2015; Coianiz et al., 2019). B: Generalized lithology column of the core section. C: Age-depth, which was plotted with thirty-two 14C
ages with 1σ error (Kitagawa et al., 2017) and one U-Th age with 2σ error (Torfstein et al., 2015). D: A combination of alternating aragonite and detritus laminae
(aad) interval (bottom), seismic deformed aad (middle), and turbidite (top). E: A combination of aad interval, seismic deformed aad, and homogenite. F: A
combination of aad interval and homogenite. G: Seismic deformed aad interval. H: Halite layer.
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
5
3.2 Methods
We measure thicknesses of aragonite and detritus laminae as couplets on high-resolution digital images using the Corelyzer software with an
accuracy of 0.1 mm (estimated to 0.05 mm) (Lu et al., 2017b). The high-resolution images and color contrast of the aragonite and detritus
make the laminae easy to recognize, and therefore the counting and measuring were relatively straightforward (e.g., Fig. 2D-F). We measure
the well-laminated aragonite and detritus laminae only and exclude any unclear lamination or severely deformed laminae (e.g., Fig. 2D and G)
or gypsum layers (or laminations). Moreover, we assume that basin depocenter erosion is negligible and the addition of deposits by sediment
failures (Lu et al., 2017a) are avoided; hence we argue for the validity of our statistical calculations.
4. Results and observations
4.1 Lithofacies of the studied core interval
The sedimentary sequence studied in this paper composes of three basic facies: aad, thick detritus layers (turbidites and homogenites), and
halite (Fig. 2D-H), yet occasionally some scattered gypsum may occur. The aad intervals are composed of mm-scale white aragonite and dark
detritus laminae (Fig. 2D-F). Some aad intervals appear severely deformed (Fig. 2G) as a result of seismic shaking (Lu et al., 2017a). The
thickness of the deformed aad intervals ranges from <1 cm to 3 m, and they were not included in the thickness calculations. The detritus layers
mainly consist of turbidites (graded layers, Fig. 2D) and homogenites (Fig. 2E, F). The thicknesses of turbidites range from ~1 cm to > 10 cm,
while homogenites reach up to a few meters thick. Some detritus layers were deposited directly on top of seismic deformed aragonite-detritus
laminae (Fig. 2D, E), while some on top of undeformed aragonite-detritus laminae (Fig. 2E, F). The total thickness of halite layers in the
studied intervals is 22.3 m. All the halite layers occur in the upper 89.25 m of the drilling core, during 11.5 ka-present (MIS 1, Fig. 2A, B)
when the Dead Sea level encountered low-stands (Kiro et al., 2017).
4.2 Lamina thickness and occurrence frequency during the past 45 kyr
We measure a total of 5598 aragonite-detritus couplets in the upper 141.6 m of Core 5017-1. The thicknesses of these laminae couplets show
two distinctive phases, with a sharp boundary at ~89.4 m (~11.6 ka). The lower part (Lisan Fm.) is characterized by a mean thickness of
~0.48±0.29 (standard deviation) mm and ~0.45±0.54 mm for the aragonite and detritus laminae, respectively. While, the uppermost part
(Ze’elim Fm.) is characterized by a mean thickness of ~1.18±0.88 mm and ~2.09±2.8 mm for the aragonite and detritus laminae, respectively
(Fig. 3). Among the measured 5598 couplets of well-laminated aragonite-detritus, 4946 occurred during MIS 3-2 (~45-11.6 ka) and 652
occurred during MIS 1 (~11.6 ka-Present). In addition, 60% of aragonite laminae and 68% of detritus laminae during the last glacial are 0.45
mm, the mean thickness of laminae in the last glacial. While 86.7% of aragonite laminae and 79.4% of detritus laminae during the Holocene
are > 0.45 mm (Table 1). The frequency distribution of aragonite and detritus laminae with different thickness ranges confirmed the contrast
lamina thickness distribution during the last glacial and the Holocene (Fig. 4). Hence, the aragonite-detritus couplets during MIS 1 are
significantly thicker than during MIS 3-2.
Table 1. Statistical analysis of aragonite and detritus laminae thickness in the ICDP Core 5017-1.
Aragonite laminae Detritus laminae
Time period
Last glacial
(45-11.6 ka)
Holocene
(11.6 ka-present)
Last glacial
(45-11.6 ka)
Holocene
(11.6 ka-present)
Number of laminae 4,946 652 4,946 652
Mean thickness (mm) 0.48 1.18 0.45 2.09
Standard deviation 0.29 0.88 0.54 2.80
Percentage of thickness
0.45 mm
(Mean thickness of laminae in the last glacial)
60% -- 68% --
Percentage of thickness > 0.45 mm -- 86.7% -- 79.4%
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
6
Fig. 3. The thickness of aragonite
and detritus laminae in the
studied section (~141.6-0 m,
~45.0 ka-Present) of the ICDP
Core 5017-1. A: High-resolution
digital images of the aad
packages showing the thickness
difference of aragonite and
detritus laminae between the two
different Fms. The white bars
represent aragonite laminae; the
black ones represent detritus
laminae. B: Depth in the core to
lamina thickness. Aragonite-
detritus couplets are closely-
spaced during the last glacial
period (~45.0-11.6 ka) and more
widely spaced during the
Holocene period (~11.6 ka-
Present). C: Running number of
laminae to thickness. Mean
thickness of aragonite and
detritus laminae during the
postglacial period are both
significantly thicker than during
the last glacial period: n: number
of measured laminae.
About 30% of total aragonite-detritus couplets were deformed during MIS 1, in contrast to ~60% during MIS 3-2 interval. The total number
of aragonite-detritus couplets (deformed and undeformed) thus were estimated to be 1,000 for MIS 1, and 12,500 for MIS 3-2. We consider
core recovery to be an important pitfall to consider in the calculations, as it equals ~70% and ~96% for the MIS1 and MIS 3-2 intervals,
respectively. We assume that within a core interval spanned by a time period, ∆t (the ratio of aad interval length to total interval length in the
missing segments) was the same as in the recovered core. Corrected for the missing sediments, the total number of the aragonite-detritus couplet
(both deformed and undeformed) are estimated to be ~1,400 for MIS 1, and ~13,000 for MIS 3-2. Thus, the average frequency of aragonite-
detritus couplet during MIS 3-2 is ~390 couplets/kyr, roughly three times the one characterizing the MIS 1 interval (~120 couplets/kyr). This
significantly high frequency of aragonite-detritus couplets during MIS 3-2 than during MIS 1, may have resulted from high precipitation rate
of aragonite during the last glacial Lake Lisan (~8 mol CaCO3• m-2• y-1) than during the present Dead Sea (~1.4 mol CaCO3• m-2• y-1) (Barkan
et al., 2001). Therefore, we conclude that the aragonite-detritus laminae couplets are thinner and occur at high frequency during MIS 3-2 (~45-
11.6 ka), while they are much thicker and less frequent during MIS 1 (~11.6 ka-present).
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
7
Fig. 4. Frequency of aragonite and detritus laminae with different
thickness ranges in the ICDP Core 5017-1. A and B: Histograms for
the occurrence of aragonite and detritus laminae during the last
glacial. C and D: Histograms for the occurrence of aragonite and
detritus laminae during the Holocene.
5. Discussion
To get a full understanding of the relationship between the Dead Sea sediment accumulation and the significant lake-level drop/lake size
reduction, we compare our new lamina record with existing shorter, fragmentary aragonite and detritus laminae records from the Dead Sea
margin (Ein Gedi core and Massada outcrop; Fig. 1B) (Migowski, 2001; Prasad et al., 2004). At a century time scale, the thicknesses of laminae
from lake margins show more frequent and larger magnitude fluctuations than the depocenter record (Fig. 5F; green curves). These differences
may due to the lamina sequence in the lake depocenter is less continuous than in the lake margins since more frequent seismic-induced mass
transport deposits in the lake depocenter.
At a multiple-millennium time scale, contrast to the small changes in the lake depocenter record, the aragonite laminae from lake margins
show a long-term decrease trend during 26-18 ka. Besides, the detritus laminae in the lake margins are much thinner than in the lake depocenter
during 26-18 ka (Fig. 5F). The thickness of detritus laminae directly reflects the sedimentation of suspended load in the lake, since we assume
that aragonite-detritus laminae couplets represent a similar time-resolution during the studied time period. The clastic sedimentation rate in the
basin depocenter is higher than at its margins, as the deeper areas receive sediments arriving from different directions surrounding the basin.
Thus, the detritus laminae in the lake margins are much thinner than in the lake depocenter.
Moreover, both aragonite and detritus laminae from lake margins during the Holocene are significantly thicker than during the last glacial
(Fig. 5F; green curves). The mean thickness of aragonite and detritus laminae during the Holocene are 1.8 and 1.2 mm, respectively, in contrast
to the mean thickness of 0.7 and 0.2 mm for the aragonite and detritus laminae, respectively during the last glacial. Therefore, the aragonite-
detritus laminae from the lake margins show the same thickness distribution pattern as in the lake depocenter, which reflects a much higher
sedimentation rate in the Dead Sea during the Holocene than during the last glacial. The source-to-sink process-linked sedimentation in the
Dead Sea Basin depends mainly upon (1) availability of erodible materials and (2) capacity of fluvial transportation/rainfall intensity/discharge
(e.g., Zhang et al., 2019).
5.1 Increase of erodible materials in the watershed during the last deglaciation (~22-11.6 ka)
Tectonics and climate are the first-order factors that affect the availability of erodible materials in the Dead Sea Basin during the Quaternary
(Frostick and Reid, 1989). In the current study, we focus on aragonite-detritus laminae couplets and not on the thick detritus layers, which
might result from suspension and re-deposition following seismic shaking. Therefore, the tectonic factors are not considered as mechanisms
standing behind the laminae couplets formation. The climate-related factors, such as vegetative cover, dust, and lake-level oscillations, will
directly and significantly affect the availability of erodible materials in the Dead Sea watershed.
Vegetation is affected by climate through a combination of variables such as rainfall and temperature (Kutiel et al., 2000). The northern
part of the Dead Sea drainage basin is presently dominated by humid to semi-humid Mediterranean climate (Fig. 1A). During the last
deglaciation, the pollen of trees & shrubs was around 30% of the total and lower than during the Holocene (Schiebel, 2013; Miebach et al.,
2017, 2019) (Fig. 5C). In contrast, the southern part of the basin is presently dominated by desert to semi-desert climate (Fig. 1A). The
percentage of trees & shrubs pollen is much lower during both the last deglaciation and Holocene. Such a relatively low vegetative cover in
the Dead Sea drainage basin during the last deglaciation might stand in favor of an increase of erodible materials at a basin scale.
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
8
Fig. 5. Comparison of laminae record from the Dead Sea depocenter with global (A) and regional climate proxies (B, C), Dead Sea lake-level (D), and laminae
record from the Dead Sea nearshore (E, F). A: Greenland (NGRIP) (Andersen et al., 2004) ice core δ18O. B: δ18Ospeleo record (Grant et al., 2012) from Soreq
Cave, Israel. C: Pollen data within and near to the Dead Sea watershed; the numbers of ① to ⑥ represent locations from south to north along the Dead Sea
Rift: Ze’elim (Neumann et al., 2007), Ein Gedi (Litt et al., 2012), Sea of Galilee (Miebach et al., 2017; Schiebel and Litt, 2017), Lake Hula (van Zeist et al.,
2009), Lake Birkat Ram (Schiebel, 2013) and Yammouneh, Lebanon (Gasse et al., 2011); the total percentage of trees & shrubs and herbs are 100%. D: Dead
Sea lake-level (Torfstein et al., 2013). E: Comparison of lamina thickness from the Dead Sea depocenter sedimentary sequence (yellow and blue colors, Core
5017-1) with nearshore sections (green color); the late Holocene (2.2-0.7 ka) and last glacial (26.2-17.7 ka) nearshore laminae records were recovered from Dead
Sea Ein Gedi core (Migowski, 2001) and Massada outcrop (Prasad et al., 2004), respectively; the bold yellow, blue and green lines represent data of 21-points
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
9
running average; the red stars mark the dated ages. F: Comparison of lamina thickness between the Dead Sea margins and center in both glacial (26.2-17.7 ka)
and interglacial (2.2-0.7 ka) time periods. See Fig. 1. for the referred locations.
In addition, previous studies reveal extensive dune incursion to the Negev Highland during the Late Pleistocene (Roskin et al., 2011;
Palchan et al., 2013; Faershtein et al., 2016; Torfstein et al., 2018; Palchan et al., 2019). The last deglaciation (18-11.6 ka) is the most extensive
phase for dune activity, promoting a maximum spatial extension of the erg (Roskin et al., 2011). During that time period, both hill slopes and
valleys in the southern part of the Dead Sea drainage basin were covered by large amounts of wind-blown dust (Faershtein et al., 2016; Palchan
et al., 2019). This aeolian process might have supplied a large amount of erodible materials in the Dead Sea drainage basin during the last
deglaciation (Haliva-Cohen et al., 2012; Palchan et al., 2019).
The Dead Sea has undergone significant lake-level drop (from ca. -200 m to ca. -420 m) (Torfstein et al., 2013), lake surface shrinkage
(from ~2900 km2 to 650 km2) and lake size reduction (from ~500 km3 to 130 km3) during the last deglaciation (Hall, 1996). The lake-level
drops have significantly shortened the distance between the Dead Sea lakeshore and wadis outlets and depocenter. Moreover, during the last
deglaciation lake-level drops, large expanses of previously submerged areas such as the Massada and Perazim Valley mud plains (Fig. 1) that
are covered with fine-grained and loose sediments were exposed for erosion (Filin et al., 2014). The significant last deglaciation lake-level
drops must have considerably increased erodible materials in the Dead Sea watershed.
5.2 Decoupling between significant lake-level drop/lake size reduction and detritus lamina thickness during the last deglaciation
Our observations show that detrital laminae are usually thinner during the last glacial high-stands and thicker during the typical Holocene low-
stands (Fig. 5D, E). It seems that this distribution pattern of lamina thickness and lake-level at glacial/interglacial timescale is in line with most
literature have claimed that lake-level/size changes controlling the thickness of detritus lamina (Schramm, 1997; Prasad et al., 2004;
Neugebauer et al., 2015; López-Merino et al., 2016). However, no apparent increase in lamina thickness is visible during the most significant
lake-level drop and lake size reduction between ~22-11.6 ka (Fig. 6). Moreover, at the same time period, the change in lamina thickness does
not follow the general trend of the lake-level/size changes. A gradual increase in lamina thickness from ~22 ka to 11.6 ka instead of only after
~11.6 ka should be noted if the lake-level/size changes controlling the thickness of detritus lamina (Fig. 6D, E).
One may argue that a lake-level threshold situated at ca. -400 m prevailed (Hall, 1996) since the basin slope angle is relatively moderate
around this elevation, and thus can accumulate much more lacustrine sediments during high-stands. However, no apparent increase in the
thickness of detritus laminae and the total clastic sediment accumulation rate (SAR) (Lu et al., 2017b) is noted during the time intervals in
which the lake-level fluctuated below -400 m (during ~14.0-11.6 ka; Fig. 6A-C). Moreover, large areas of loose Lisan outcrops (e.g., Massada
and Perazim Valley) on the western Dead Sea lake’s margins above -400 m have been exposed during the last deglaciation and may have also
supplied a large amount of erodible materials.
The significant lake-level drop, enhanced dust input in the southern part of the Dead Sea drainage system, and low vegetative cover in the
drainage basin during the last deglaciation have considerably increased erodible materials in the Dead Sea watershed. However, the total clastic
SAR remained low and no apparent increase in the thickness of detritus laminae during the time period. Therefore, we conclude that a
decoupling existed between significant lake-level drop/lake size reduction and detritus lamina thickness during the last deglaciation (22-11.6
ka), and the lamina thickness was not controlled by the factors such as vegetative cover, eolian process, and lake-level drop/lake size reduction,
which led to considerable increase in erodible materials.
We surmise that a response lag cannot account for the decoupling between significant lake-level drop/lake size reduction and detritus lamina
thickness during the last deglaciation, mainly because of the very short distance (a few hundred meters) from the source mud plains to the lake
shores. Moreover, the hydrological response in the Dead Sea catchment is relatively fast due to large exposures of bare rock (Ben Moshe et al.,
2008), shallow soils, and scarcity of vegetation (Greenbaum et al., 2006; Neumann et al., 2010). Besides, high-resolution radiocarbon dating
on the Ze’elim outcrop reveals that the lag period due to transport and deposition of vegetation debris is less than a few decades in such an arid
environment (Ken-Tor (Bookman) et al., 2001). Moreover, based on 7Be record, Belmaker et al. (2011) demonstrate that the residence time of
fine aeolian particles in the arid Dead Sea drainage basin is even less than one year, therefore indicating that rare floods in the drainage basin
wash very efficiently into the Dead Sea.
A rate-limiting process for erosion is the rate of load transport (Molnar, 2001). The amount of erodible materials in the Dead Sea watershed
couldn’t be equal to the amount of eroded materials and hence the amount of sedimentation at the deepest depositional sink in the Dead Sea.
This is because the transport and accumulation of materials at the sink largely depend on the discharge of rivers and the magnitude of floods.
Previous studies have revealed that more sediments are carried when rivers are in flooding stage than when discharges are low (Molnar, 2001;
Belmaker et al., 2008). Therefore, we interpret the last deglaciation decoupling between the significant increase in erodible materials and
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
10
detritus lamina thickness change implies the (suspended load) transport capacity of flash-floods is low and might be saturated by the oversupply
of erodible materials during the time period. We therefore suggest that this decoupling indicates a transport-limited regime (Zhang et al., 2019).
Fig. 6. Comparison of Dead Sea depocenter and marginal laminae records (B-E) with Dead Sea lake-level and size changes (A) during 26-8 ka. A: The most
significant lake-level drop and lake size reduction in the Dead Sea drainage basin during the past 45 kyr (Torfstein et al., 2013; Hall, 1996). B: Clastic (detritus
laminae plus detritus layers) sediment accumulation rate (SAR) in the Dead Sea depocenter, based on Core 5017-1 (Lu et al., 2017b). C: Comparison of lamina
thickness (21-points running average) change with significant lake-level and size changes during 26-8 ka; yellow and blue curves represent aragonite and detritus
laminae from Core 5017-1, respectively; green curves represent aragonite and detritus laminae from the Dead Sea margin. D: Comparison of lamina thickness
change with lake surface area change. E: Normalize lamina thickness to lake surface area. The “?” in (D) and (E) indicates no significant increase in lamina
thickness during the two intervals of most significant lake-level drop/lake size reduction; the dashed magenta lines in (D) and (E) represent the expected change
trend of lamina thickness if the thickness controlled by lake-level/size changes.
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
11
5.3 Implications to floods recurrence during the last glacial and the Holocene
Previous paleoclimatology studies point to relative humid conditions in the Dead Sea drainage basin during the last glacial, as was denoted by
high-stands of Lake Lisan (Stein et al., 1997; Bartov et al., 2002; Bookman et al., 2006; Rohling, 2013). Based on instrumental meteorological
data from the northernmost part of the Dead Sea drainage area, it is shown that years experiencing twice the mean annual rainfall yielded four
to six times the modern mean inflow to the Sea of Galilee (Enzel et al., 2003). Furthermore, Enzel et al. (2008) proposed that the three- to five-
fold increase in inflow during the last glacial could have resulted from doubling mean annual rainfall in the Lake Lisan drainage area.
However, the aragonite-detritus laminae during the last glacial (~45-11.6 ka) are much thinner than during the Holocene (~11.6 ka-Present).
Thereby, the annual rainfall is unlikely to be the controlling factor of detritus lamina thickness. Modeling response of soil erosion to changes
in precipitation reveals that changes in rainfall intensity will likely have a greater impact on land surface erosion than simply changes in rainfall
amount alone (Nearing et al., 2005). Field experiments in the Jordanian Plateau (Ziadat and Taimeh, 2013) and laboratory modeling (Defersha
and Melesse, 2012) confirmed that sediment yield increased with rainfall intensity augmentation. Late Pleistocene erosion and deposition
studies by Enzel et al. (2012) in Nahal Yael (southern Israel) also reveal that the intensity/frequency of extreme storms is a key factor for pulses
of sediment delivery at millennial time scale. Flooding will be generated after a threshold in rainfall intensity is reached, and then an increase
in sediment transportation and sedimentation at the sink are expected. Modern offshore sedimentation monitoring in the Dead Sea area by
satellite observations (Nehorai et al., 2013) and sediment traps (Stiller et al., 1997) reveals that flooding plays a key role in supplying offshore
suspended particles.
The Dead Sea drainage basin experiences relatively high year-to-year precipitation variations due to the influence of two nearby major
climatological provinces (Dayan and Morin, 2006; Morin et al., 2009). The peak discharges are inversely related to decreasing annual rainfall
totals (Ben-Zvi, 1988; Armon et al., 2019), and the relative portion of higher rainfall intensities increases with the reduction of annual rainfall
amounts southward (Greenbaum et al., 2006). Present-day meteorological data show that the frequency of rare floods in arid regions is much
higher than in humid regions in the Dead Sea watershed (Ben-Zvi, 1988; Greenbaum et al., 1998). On a century time scale, late Holocene
paleohydrological reconstructions for the western watershed of the Dead Sea reveals an increased frequency of large floods during eastern
Mediterranean droughts (~2.9-2.6 ka) (Ahlborn et al., 2018). Moreover, in the southern watershed of the Dead Sea, observations show that
higher intensity rainfall is associated with increased aridity during the late Holocene (Bull and Schick, 1979; Greenbaum et al., 2000). It is
concluded that the increased frequency of high intensity rainfall, which are associated with increased aridity, most probably result from
increased frequency of extreme localized Active Red Sea Trough associated rainstorms (Greenbaum et al., 2000; Ahlborn et al., 2018).
In the Dead Sea region, high rain intensities with long recurrence intervals are more frequent as the climate becomes drier (Morin et al.,
2009). Field observations in the Negev Highlands, southern Israel reveal that the significant climate shift during the Late Pleistocene/Holocene
transition led to higher rainfall intensity, and thus generating stronger floods and extensive soil erosion since ~12 ka (Avni et al., 2006;
Faershtein et al., 2016). The response of sedimentation to the late Pleistocene/Holocene climatic transition has also been recorded in the
southern Negev Desert (Bull et al., 1979) and other arid regions such as the Great Basin Desert, northwest Nevada (Harvey et al., 1999), and
Mojave Desert, eastern California (Antinao and McDonald, 2013).
The higher occurrence frequency of aragonite-detritus laminae couplets during MIS2-3 (~45-11.6 ka) compared to the MIS1 (~11.6 ka-
present) can be explained by the twofold mean annual rainfall and four to six times larger amount of annual runoff during the last glacial than
the Holocene (Enzel et al., 2008). Therefore, we propose the thickness-frequency distribution of aragonite-detritus laminae couplets may
indicate small-magnitude and high-frequency floods during a more humid last glacial period, and low frequency but large-magnitude floods
during the arid Holocene. This long-term paleoflood record may supply insight for future hazard assessment regarding the increased aridity in
the Southern Levant.
6. Conclusions
The following points highlight the main conclusions of the paper:
(1) In the Dead Sea depocenter, the 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. Other shorter, fragmentary aragonite and detritus laminae records from the Dead Sea margin
show the same thickness distribution pattern.
(2) The significant lake-level drops, enhanced dust input in the Dead Sea drainage system, 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.
(3) A decoupling existed between the significant lake-level drop/lake size reduction and lamina thickness change during the last deglaciation,
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
12
and at the multiple-millennium scale, the lamina thickness is not controlled by the lake-level/size change during the last glacial and the
Holocene. We interpret this last deglaciation decoupling (lamina thickness doesn't follow the lake level/size change) implying the transport
capacity of flash-floods is low and might be saturated by the oversupply of erodible materials during the time period.
(4) We suggest that the observed thickness-frequency distribution of aragonite-detritus laminae reflects the small-magnitude and high-
frequency floods during the humid last glacial, and low frequency but large-magnitude floods during the arid Holocene.
Acknowledgments
We thank the funding agencies for this project: The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and the Israel Science
Foundation (ISF; Grant #1093/10 to R. Bookman and Center of Excellence Grant #1436/14 to S. Marco). We thank Nimer Taha from the Basin
Analysis and Petrophysical Lab (PetroLab) at the Department of Marine Geosciences, the University of Haifa for laboratory assistance. We
thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which improved the quality of the manuscript substantially. We thank
Editor Neil Roberts for handling this manuscript. All analytical data presented here are available electronically in the Supplementary Table and
PANGAEA database at the PANGAEA: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.907643
References
Ahlborn, M., Armon, M., Ben Dor, Y., Neugebauer, I., Schwab, M.J., et al., 2018. Increased frequency of torrential rainstorms during a regional late Holocene
eastern Mediterranean drought. Quat. Res. 89, 425-431.
Andersen, K.K., Azuma, N., Barnola, J.M., Bigler, M., Biscaye, P., et al., 2004. High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last
interglacial period. Nature 431, 147-151.
Antinao, J.L., McDonald, E., 2013. A reduced relevance of vegetation change for alluvial aggradation in arid zones. Geology 41, 11-14.
Armon, M., Morin, E., Enzel, Y., 2019. Overview of modern atmospheric patterns controlling rainfall and floods into the Dead Sea: Implications for the lake's
sedimentology and paleohydrology. Quat. Sci. Rev. 216, 58-73.
Avni, Y., Porat, N., Plakht, J., Avni, G., 2006. Geomorphic changes leading to natural desertification versus anthropogenic land conservation in an arid
environment, the Negev Highlands, Israel. Geomorphology 82, 177-200.
Barkan, E., Luz, B., Lazar, B., 2001. Dynamics of the carbon dioxide system in the Dead Sea. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 65, 355-358.
Bartov, Y., Stein, M., Enzel, Y., Agnon, A., Reches, Z., 2002. Lake Levels and Sequence Stratigraphy of Lake Lisan, the Late Pleistocene Precursor of the Dead
Sea. Quat. Res. 57, 9-21.
Begin, Z.B., Ehrlich, A., Nathan, Y., 1974. Lake Lisan the Pleistocene precursor of the Dead Sea. Geol. Surv. Isr. Bull. 63, 1-30.
Belmaker, R., Lazar, B., Stein, M., Beer, J., 2011. Short residence time and fast transport of fine detritus in the Judean Desert: Clues from7Be in settled dust.
Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, n/a-n/a.
Belmaker, R., Lazar, B., Stein, M., Taha, N., Bookman, R., 2019. Constraints on aragonite precipitation in the Dead Sea from geochemical measurements of
flood plumes. Quat. Sci. Rev. 221, 105876.
Belmaker, R., Lazar, B., Tepelyakov, N., Stein, M., Beer, J., 2008. 10Be in Lake Lisan sediments - A proxy for production or climate? Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 269,
448-457.
Ben-Zvi, A., 1988. Maximal discharges observed in Israel. Environ. Geol. Water Sci. 11, 15-19.
Ben Dor, Y., Armon, M., Ahlborn, M., Morin, E., Erel, Y., et al., 2018. Changing flood frequencies under opposing late Pleistocene eastern Mediterranean
climates. Sci. Rep. 8, 8445.
Ben Moshe, L., Haviv, I., Enzel, Y., Zilberman, E., Matmon, A., 2008. Incision of alluvial channels in response to a continuous base level fall: Field
characterization, modeling, and validation along the Dead Sea. Geomorphology 93, 524-536.
Bookman (Ken-Tor), R., Enzel, Y., Agnon, A., Stein, M., 2004. Late Holocene lake levels of the Dead Sea. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 116, 555-571.
Bookman, R., Bartov, Y., Enzel, Y., Stein, M., 2006. Quaternary lake levels in the Dead Sea basin: two centuries of research. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 401,
155-170.
Bookman, R., Filin, S., Avni, Y., Rosenfeld, D., Marco, S., 2014. Possible connection between large volcanic eruptions and level rise episodes in the Dead Sea
Basin. Quat. Sci. Rev. 89, 123-128.
Brown, S.L., Bierman, P.R., Lini, A., Southon, J., 2000. 10 000 yr record of extreme hydrologic events. Geology 28, 335-338.
Bubeck, P., Botzen, W.J., Aerts, J.C., 2012. A review of risk perceptions and other factors that influence flood mitigation behavior. Risk Analysis: An International
Journal 32, 1481-1495.
Bull, W.B., Schick, A.P., 1979. Impact of climatic change on an arid watershed: Nahal Yael, southern Israel. Quat. Res. 11, 153-171.
Coianiz, L., Bialik, O.M., Ben-Avraham, Z., Lazar, M., 2019. Late Quaternary lacustrine deposits of the Dead Sea basin: high resolution sequence stratigraphy
from downhole logging data. Quat. Sci. Rev. 210, 175-189.
Dayan, U., Morin, E., 2006. Flash flood–producing rainstorms over the Dead Sea: A review. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 401, 53-62.
Defersha, M.B., Melesse, A.M., 2012. Effect of rainfall intensity, slope and antecedent moisture content on sediment concentration and sediment enrichment
ratio. Catena 90, 47-52.
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Dayan, U., Crouvi, O., Kahana, R., et al., 2008. The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the late Pleistocene
climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts. Global Planet. Change 60, 165-192.
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Grodek, T., Ayalon, A., Lekach, J., et al., 2012. Late Quaternary weathering, erosion, and deposition in Nahal Yael, Israel: An “impact of
climatic change on an arid watershed”? Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 124, 705-722.
Enzel, Y., Bookman, R., Sharon, D., Gvirtzman, H., Dayan, U., et al., 2003. Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations
and modern regional winter rainfall. Quat. Res. 60, 263-273.
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
13
Faershtein, G., Porat, N., Avni, Y., Matmon, A., 2016. Aggradation–incision transition in arid environments at the end of the Pleistocene: An example from the
Negev Highlands, southern Israel. Geomorphology 253, 289-304.
Filin, S., Avni, Y., Baruch, A., Morik, S., Arav, R., et al., 2014. Characterization of land degradation along the receding Dead Sea coastal zone using airborne
laser scanning. Geomorphology 206, 403-420.
Frostick, L.E., Reid, I., 1989. Climatic versus tectonic controls of fan sequences: lessons from the Dead Sea, Israel. J. Geol. Soc. 146, 527-538.
Garfunkel, Z., 2014. Lateral motion and deformation along the Dead Sea transform, in: Garfunkel, Z., Ben-Avraham, Z., Kagan, E. (Eds.), Dead Sea Transform
Fault System: Reviews. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 109-150.
Gasse, F., Vidal, L., Develle, A.L., Van Campo, E., 2011. Hydrological variability in the Northern Levant: a 250 ka multiproxy record from the Yammoûneh
(Lebanon) sedimentary sequence. Clim. Past. 7, 1261-1284.
Grant, K.M., Rohling, E.J., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Medina-Elizalde, M., et al., 2012. Rapid coupling between ice volume and polar temperature over
the past 150,000 years. Nature 491, 744-747.
Greenbaum, N., Ben-Zvi, A., Haviv, I., Enzel, Y., 2006. The hydrology and paleohydrology of the Dead Sea tributaries. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 401, 63-93.
Greenbaum, N., Margalit, A., Schick, A.P., Sharon, D., Baker, V.R., 1998. A high magnitude storm and flood in a hyperarid catchment, Nahal Zin, Negev Desert,
Israel. Hydrol. Processes 12, 1-23.
Greenbaum, N., Schick, A.P., Baker, V.R., 2000. The palaeoflood record of a hyperarid catchment, Nahal Zin, Negev Desert, Israel. Earth Surf. Processes
Landforms 25, 951-971.
Haliva-Cohen, A., Stein, M., Goldstein, S.L., Sandler, A., Starinsky, A., 2012. Sources and transport routes of fine detritus material to the Late Quaternary Dead
Sea basin. Quat. Sci. Rev. 50, 55-70.
Hall, J.K., 1996. Digital topography and bathymetry of the area of the Dead Sea depression. Tectonophysics 266, 177-185.
Harvey, A.M., Wigand, P.E., Wells, S.G., 1999. Response of alluvial fan systems to the late Pleistocene to Holocene climatic transition: contrasts between the
margins of pluvial Lakes Lahontan and Mojave, Nevada and California, USA. Catena 36, 255-281.
Heim, C., Nowaczyk, N.R., Negendank, J.F.W., Leroy, S.A.G., Ben-Avraham, Z., 1997. Near East Desertification: Evidence from the Dead Sea.
Naturwissenschaften 84, 398-401.
Kagan, E., Stein, M., Marco, S., 2018. Integrated paleoseismic chronology of the last glacial Lake Lisan: from lake-margin seismites to deep-lake mass-transport
deposits. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 10.1002/2017jb014117.
Katz, A., Kolodny, Y., Nissenbaum, A., 1977. The geochemical evolution of the Pleistocene Lake Lisan - Dead Sea system. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 41,
1609-1629.
Ken-Tor (Bookman), R., Stein, M., Enzel, Y., Agnon, A., Marco, S., et al., 2001. Precision of calibrated radiocarbon ages of historic earthquakes in the Dead Sea
basin. Radiocarbon 43, 1371-1382.
Kiro, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Garcia-Veigas, J., Levy, E., Kushnir, Y., et al., 2017. Relationships between lake-level changes and water and salt budgets in the Dead
Sea during extreme aridities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 464, 211-226.
Kitagawa, H., Stein, M., Goldstein, S.L., Nakamura, A., Lazar, B., et al., 2017. Radiocarbon chronology of the DSDDP core at the deepest floor of the Dead Sea.
Radiocarbon 59, 383-394.
Knox, J.C., 1993. Large increases in flood magnitude in response to modest changes in climate. Nature 361, 430.
Kochel, R.C., Baker, V.R., 1982. Paleoflood hydrology. Science 215, 353-361.
Kottmeier, C., Agnon, A., Al-Halbouni, D., Alpert, P., Corsmeier, U., et al., 2016. New perspectives on interdisciplinary earth science at the Dead Sea: The
DESERVE project. Sci. Total Environ. 544, 1045-1058.
Kutiel, P., Kutiel, H., Lavee, H., 2000. Vegetation response to possible scenarios of rainfall variations along a Mediterranean–extreme arid climatic transect. J.
Arid. Environ. 44, 277-290.
López-Merino, L., Leroy, S.A.G., Eshel, A., Epshtein, V., Belmaker, R., et al., 2016. Using palynology to re-assess the Dead Sea laminated sediments - Indeed
varves? Quat. Sci. Rev. 140, 49-66.
Langgut, D., Neumann, F.H., Stein, M., Wagner, A., Kagan, E.J., et al., 2014. Dead Sea pollen record and history of human activity in the Judean Highlands
(Israel) from the Intermediate Bronze into the Iron Ages (∼2500-500 BCE). Palynology 38, 280-302.
Lensky, N.G., Dvorkin, Y., Lyakhovsky, V., Gertman, I., Gavrieli, I., 2005. Water, salt, and energy balances of the Dead Sea. Water Resour. Res. 41,
10.1029/2005wr004084.
Litt, T., Ohlwein, C., Neumann, F.H., Hense, A., Stein, M., 2012. Holocene climate variability in the Levant from the Dead Sea pollen record. Quat. Sci. Rev.
49, 95-105.
Lu, Y., Waldmann, N., Ian Alsop, G., Marco, S., 2017a. Interpreting soft sediment deformation and mass transport deposits as seismites in the Dead Sea
depocenter. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 122, 8305-8325.
Lu, Y., Waldmann, N., Nadel, D., Marco, S., 2017b. Increased sedimentation following the Neolithic Revolution in the Southern Levant. Global Planet. Change
152, 199-208.
Miebach, A., Chen, C., Schwab, M.J., Stein, M., Litt, T., 2017. Vegetation and climate during the Last Glacial high stand (ca. 28–22 ka BP) of the Sea of Galilee,
northern Israel. Quat. Sci. Rev. 156, 47-56.
Miebach, A., Stolzenberger, S., Wacker, L., Hense, A., Litt, T., 2019. A new Dead Sea pollen record reveals the last glacial paleoenvironment of the southern
Levant. Quat. Sci. Rev. 214, 98-116.
Migowski, C., 2001. Untersuchungen laminierter holozäner Sedimente aus dem Toten Meer: Rekonstruktion von Paläoklima und-seismizität.
GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, p. 99.
Migowski, C., Agnon, A., Bookman, R., Negendank, J.F.W., Stein, M., 2004. Recurrence pattern of Holocene earthquakes along the Dead Sea transform revealed
by varve-counting and radiocarbon dating of lacustrine sediments. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 222, 301-314.
Molnar, P., 2001. Climate change, flooding in arid environments, and erosion rates. Geology 29, 1071-1074.
Molnar, P., Anderson, R.S., Kier, G., Rose, J., 2006. Relationships among probability distributions of stream discharges in floods, climate, bed load transport,
and river incision. J. Geophys. Res. 111.
Montz, B.E., Gruntfest, E., 2002. Flash flood mitigation: recommendations for research and applications. Global Environmental Change Part B: Environmental
Copyright (2020) Elsevier (DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106143)
© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
14
Hazards 4, 15-22.
Morin, E., Jacoby, Y., Navon, S., Bet-Halachmi, E., 2009. Towards flash-flood prediction in the dry Dead Sea region utilizing radar rainfall information. Adv.
Water Resour. 32, 1066-1076.
Mulder, T., Migeon, S., Savoye, B., Jouanneau, J.-M., 2001. Twentieth century floods recorded in the deep Mediterranean sediments. Geology 29, 1011-1014.
Nearing, M.A., Jetten, V., Baffaut, C., Cerdan, O., Couturier, A., et al., 2005. Modeling response of soil erosion and runoff to changes in precipitation and cover.
Catena 61, 131-154.
Neev, D., Emery, K.O., 1967. The Dead Sea, depositional processes and environments of evaporites. Geol. Surv. Isr. Bull. 41, 1-147.
Nehorai, R., Lensky, I.M., Hochman, L., Gertman, I., Brenner, S., et al., 2013. Satellite observations of turbidity in the Dead Sea. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans 118,
3146-3160.
Neugebauer, I., Brauer, A., Schwab, M.J., Dulski, P., Frank, U., et al., 2015. Evidences for centennial dry periods at ∼3300 and ∼2800 cal. yr BP from micro-
facies analyses of the Dead Sea sediments. The Holocene 25, 1358-1371.
Neugebauer, I., Brauer, A., Schwab, M.J., Waldmann, N.D., Enzel, Y., et al., 2014. Lithology of the long sediment record recovered by the ICDP Dead Sea Deep
Drilling Project (DSDDP). Quat. Sci. Rev. 102, 149-165.
Neumann, F.H., Kagan, E.J., Leroy, S.A.G., Baruch, U., 2010. Vegetation history and climate fluctuations on a transect along the Dead Sea west shore and their
impact on past societies over the last 3500 years. J. Arid. Environ. 74, 756-764.
Neumann, F.H., Kagan, E.J., Schwab, M.J., Stein, M., 2007. Palynology, sedimentology and palaeoecology of the late Holocene Dead Sea. Quat. Sci. Rev. 26,
1476-1498.
Neumann, J., 1958. Tentative energy and water balances for the Dead Sea. Bull. Res. Counc. Isr. 7G, 137-163.
Palchan, D., Erel, Y., Stein, M., 2019. Mobilization of fine detritus to the Dead Sea Basin during the late glacial and early Holocene. Quat. Sci. Rev. 218, 395-
405.
Palchan, D., Stein, M., Almogi-Labin, A., Erel, Y., Goldstein, S.L., 2013. Dust transport and synoptic conditions over the Sahara-Arabia deserts during the
MIS6/5 and 2/1 transitions from grain-size, chemical and isotopic properties of Red Sea cores. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 382, 125-139.
Prasad, S., Vos, H., Negendank, J.F.W., Waldmann, N., Goldstein, S.L., et al., 2004. Evidence from Lake Lisan of solar influence on decadal- to centennial-scale
climate variability during marine oxygen isotope stage 2. Geology 32, 581-584.
Rohling, E.J., 2013. Quantitative assessment of glacial fluctuations in the level of Lake Lisan, Dead Sea rift. Quat. Sci. Rev. 70, 63-72.
Roskin, J., Tsoar, H., Porat, N., Blumberg, D.G., 2011. Palaeoclimate interpretations of Late Pleistocene vegetated linear dune mobilization episodes: evidence
from the northwestern Negev dunefield, Israel. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30, 3364-3380.
Sade, A., Hall, J., Sade, H., Amit, G., Tibor, G., et al., 2014. Multibeam Bathymetric Map of the Dead Sea. Geological Survey of Israel report GSI/01/2014,
Jerusalem, Israel http://www.gsi.gov.il/_uploads/ftp/Maps/Shaded-batimetry_map-Dead-Sea-Poster-Front-300dpi.pdf.
Schiebel, V., 2013. Vegetation and climate history of the southern Levant during the last 30,000 years based on palynological investigation, Universität Bonn.
Universität Bonn, Bonn, März, p. 103.
Schiebel, V., Litt, T., 2017. Holocene vegetation history of the southern Levant based on a pollen record from Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel. Veg. Hist.
Archaeobot. org/10.1007/s00334-017-0658-3.
Schramm, A., 1997. Uranium series and 14C dating of Lake Lisan (paleo-Dead Sea) sediments: Implications for 14C time-scale calibration and relation to global
paleoclimate. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, p. 115.
Stanhill, G., 1994. Changes in the rate of evaporation from the Dead Sea. Int. J. Climatol. 14, 465-471.
Stein, M., 2001. The sedimentary and geochemical record of Neogene-Quaternary water bodies in the Dead Sea Basin-inferences for the regional paleoclimatic
history. J. Paleolimnol. 26, 271-282.
Stein, M., Ben-Avraham, Z., Goldstein, S., Agnon, A., Ariztegui, D., et al., 2011. Deep drilling at the Dead Sea. Sci. Drill., 46-47.
Stein, M., Starinsky, A., Katz, A., Goldstein, S.L., Machlus, M., et al., 1997. Strontium isotopic, chemical, and sedimentological evidence for the evolution of
Lake Lisan and the Dead Sea. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 61, 3975-3992.
Steinhorn, I., 1997. Evaporation estimate for the dead sea: Essential considerations for saline lakes, in: Niemi, T.M., Ben-Avraham, Z., Gat, J. (Eds.), The Dead
Sea: The Lake and Its Setting. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 122-132.
Stiller, M., Gat, J.R., Kaushansky, P., 1997. Halite precipitation and sediment deposition as measured in sediment traps deployed in the Dead Sea: 1981-1983,
in: Niemi, T.M., Ben-Avraham, Z., Gat, J. (Eds.), The Dead Sea: The Lake and Its Setting. Oxford univ. press, USA, pp. 171-183.
Swierczynski, T., Brauer, A., Lauterbach, S., Martín-Puertas, C., Dulski, P., et al., 2012. A 1600 yr seasonally resolved record of decadal-scale flood variability
from the Austrian Pre-Alps. Geology 40, 1047-1050.
Torfstein, A., Goldstein, S.L., Kushnir, Y., Enzel, Y., Haug, G., et al., 2015. Dead Sea drawdown and monsoonal impacts in the Levant during the last interglacial.
Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 412, 235-244.
Torfstein, A., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M., 2018. Enhanced Saharan dust input to the Levant during Heinrich stadials. Quat. Sci. Rev. 186, 142-155.
Torfstein, A., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M., Enzel, Y., 2013. Impacts of abrupt climate changes in the Levant from Last Glacial Dead Sea levels. Quat. Sci. Rev. 69,
1-7.
van Zeist, W., Baruch, U., Bottema, S., 2009. Holocene palaeoecology of the Hula area, northeastern Israel. A Timeless Vale. Archaeological and Related Essays
on the Jordan Valley in Honour of Gerrit Van Der Kooij on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Leiden: Leiden University Press. p, 29-64.
Waldmann, N., Stein, M., Ariztegui, D., Starinsky, A., 2009. Stratigraphy, depositional environments and level reconstruction of the last interglacial Lake Samra
in the Dead Sea basin. Quat. Res. 72, 1-15.
Wirth, S.B., Gilli, A., Simonneau, A., Ariztegui, D., Vannière, B., et al., 2013. A 2000 year long seasonal record of floods in the southern European Alps. Geophys.
Res. Lett. 40, 4025-4029.
Zhang, F., Jin, Z., West, A.J., An, Z., Hilton, R.G., et al., 2019. Monsoonal control on a delayed response of sedimentation to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.
Sci. Adv. 5, eaav7110.
Ziadat, F.M., Taimeh, A.Y., 2013. Effect of Rainfall Intensity, Slope, Land Use and Antecedent Soil Moisture on Soil Erosion in an Arid Environment. Land
Degrad. Dev. 24, 582-590.
