The sedimentary and geochemical record of Neogene- Quaternary water bodies in the Dead Sea Basin - inferences for the regional paleoclimatic history*

Abstract

Several water‐bodies occupied the tectonic depressions along the Dead Sea transform during the Neogene‐Quaternary. The earliest of these water bodies was the marine Sedom lagoon, which produced the Sedom‐Dead Sea brine. After the disconnection of the Sedom lagoon from the open sea several lakes were developed in the Dead Sea basin‐Jordan Valley. Lake Amora (Samra) that existed from early to late Pleistocene, Lake Lisan (~ 70–15 kyr B.P.), and the Holocene Dead Sea. The lacustrine water bodies in the Dead Sea basin behave as 'amplifier lakes' whose size and depth reflect the changing climatic conditions in the region. Lake level and limnological conditions of Lake Amora are not yet known, nevertheless, the lake probably extended over a large part of the Dead Sea basin-Jordan Valley. Lake Lisan level changed between ~ 330 and ~ 150 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.). Its maximum elevation was reached at ~ 27–23 kyr B.P. during marine isotope stage 2. Its minimum elevation was reached at ~ 47–43 kyr during marine isotope stage 3. Lake Lisan began to recede at ~ 17–15 kyr B.P. and at 12–11 kyr B.P. the post‐Lisan water body declined to its minimum level. During most of the Holocene the lake (paleo‐Dead Sea) stabilized at ~ 400 m b.s.l. The limnological evolution of water bodies in the Dead Sea basin reflects the climatic conditions in the region during the late Pleistocene, which fluctuated between wetter and drier periods. During Lisan time these fluctuations appear to be modulated by the cold and warm cycles, respectively in the northern Hemisphere. This relation is less obvious in the post‐Lisan water body, where the strongest lake drop appears to occur during the Younger Dryas cold event.