Seasonal variations of halite saturation in the Dead Sea

Abstract

AbstractHypersaline lakes and seas were common in the past, precipitating thick evaporitic salt deposits. The only modern analogue for the paleolimnology of deep salt‐saturated aquatic environments exists in the Dead Sea. In this study, we present new insights from the Dead Sea on the role of seasonal thermohaline stratification and water balance on the seasonal and depth variations of the degree of saturation of halite (salt) and the rate of halite growth along the water column. We developed methodologies to accurately determine the empirical degree of halite saturation of the lake based on high accuracy densitometry, and to quantify halite growth rate along the water column. During summer, the epilimnion is undersaturated and halite is dissolved, whereas during winter the entire water column is supersaturated and crystallizes halite. This result is not trivial because the variations in the water balance suggest the opposite; summer is associated with higher loss of water by evaporation from the lake compared to the winter. Hence, the thermal effect overcomes the hydrological balance effect and thus governs the seasonal saturation cycle. The hypolimnion is supersaturated with respect to halite and crystallizes throughout the year, with higher super saturation and higher crystallization rates during winter. During summer, simultaneous opposing environments coexist—an undersaturated epilimnion that dissolves halite and a supersaturated hypolimnion that crystallizes halite, which results in focusing of halite deposits in the deep hypolimnetic parts of the evaporitic basins and thinning the shallow epilimnetic deposits.