Determining the Exposure Age of a Karst Landscape

Abstract

An extensive salt karst system has developed in Mount Sedom salt diapir, Israel, during the Holocene. Multilevel vadose caves were14C dated using wood fragments embedded in alluvial deposits. The oldest date of each cave is used to constrain the age of the salt exposure. The upper portion of the southeastern escarpment was the first to rise above base level ∼7100 yr B.P. Caves in the surrounding area indicate gradual landscape exposure around this initial karstified area between 7000 and 4000 yr B.P. The northern part of the mountain experienced a similar exposure history, lagging some 3000 yr after the southern part. This lag may be attributed to the narrow width of the diapir in the north, which increases viscous drag at the borders of the rising diapir.