The paleohydrology of southern israel and its influence on the flushing of the Kurnub and 'Arad groups (Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic)

Abstract

The ionic composition, stable isotopes and total salinity pattern of waters from the aquifer of the Kurnub and 'Arad groups (Lower Cretaceous-Jurassic) suggest that these waters replaced previous formation brines. The hydrologic regime which caused the flushing is the same as that which filled the formerly-described Kurnub Group aquifer (“Upper Nubian Sandstone”) of the central and southern Negev. Infiltration took place during humid phases of the Pleistocene, through outcrops along the igneous massif of the southern Sinai. Northward, subsurface flow was made possible mainly by the opening of outlet zones along the regional faults accompanying the Syrian-African rift system. The layers beneath the Coastal Plain were not flushed as no outlet was available due to the deep burial of these layers under a thick impermeable cover of the Shefela and Saqiye groups. Alternative models by other authors (Mesozoic and Recent flushing) are briefly discussed.