On the paleoclimate of Jordan during the last glacial maximum

Abstract

The uppermost Pleistocene in the Jordan Valley is represented by two closed lakes: the Lisan Lake (and hence the Lisan Formation 63 to 16–15 ka) and the Damya Lake (Damya Formation 16–15 to 12 ka). The Lisan Formation in the central Jordan Valley consists mainly of varved sediments, is capped by a conspicuous white cliff containing abundant gypsum lamina and is overlain by evaporite-free Damya Formation. The white cliff sediments, thus, represent the driest period of the Lidan–Damya times (63–12 ka). This cold, dry period extended from 23–22 to 16–15 ka BP, which corresponds to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) world-wide and ended by the demise of Lake Lisan. We believe that the cold, dry climate of the Jordan Valley during the LGM, supported by other workers, records a rather similar paleoclimatic trend with the monsoon-affected North African Sahara, Arabia and SE Asia where cold climatic times are associated with drier, low precipitation, and expansion of desert conditions. Consequently, this might indicate a good possibility of the monsoon rains reaching the interior southern Levant during the warm, wet periods.