Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T17:00:08.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lake Levels and Sequence Stratigraphy of Lake Lisan, the Late Pleistocene Precursor of the Dead Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yuval Bartov ,
Mordechai Stein ,
Yehouda Enzel ,
Amotz Agnon  and
Ze'ev Reches
Yuval Bartov
Affiliation:
The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904, Israel
Mordechai Stein
Affiliation:
The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904, Israel
Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904, Israel
Amotz Agnon
Affiliation:
The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904, Israel
Ze'ev Reches
Affiliation:
The Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lake Lisan, the late Pleistocene precursor of the Dead Sea, existed from ∼70,000 to 15,000 yr B.P. It evolved through frequent water-level fluctuations, which reflected the regional hydrological and climatic conditions. We determined the water level of the lake for the time interval ∼55,000–15,000 cal yr B.P. by mapping offshore, nearshore, and fan-delta sediments; by application of sequence stratigraphy methods; and by dating with radiocarbon and U-series methods. During the studied time interval the lake-level fluctuated between ∼340 and 160 m below mean sea level (msl). Between 55,000 and 30,000 cal yr B.P. the lake evolved through short-term fluctuations around 280–290 m below msl, punctuated (at 48,000–43,000 cal yr B.P.) by a drop event to at least 340 m below msl. At ∼27,000 cal yr B.P. the lake began to rise sharply, reaching its maximum elevation of about 164 m below msl between 26,000 and 23,000 cal yr B.P., then it began dropping and reached 300 m below msl at ∼15,000 cal yr B.P. During the Holocene the lake, corresponding to the present Dead Sea, stabilized at ca. 400 m below msl with minor fluctuations. The hypsometric curve of the basin indicates that large changes in lake area are expected at above 403 and 385 m below msl. At these elevations the lake level is buffered. Lake Lisan was always higher than 380 m below msl, indicating a significantly large water contribution to the basin. The long and repetitious periods of stabilization at 280–290 m below msl during Lake Lisan time indicate hydrological control combined with the existence of a physical sill at this elevation. Crossing this sill could not have been achieved without a dramatic increase in the total water input to the lake, as occurred during the fast and intense lake rise from ∼280 to 160 m below msl at ∼27,000 cal yr B.P.

Keywords

Dead SeaLake Lisanlate Pleistocenelake levelspaleoclimatologylacustrine depositsfan-deltasequence stratigraphy
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 9 - 21
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, K.D., and Wesnousky, S.G. Shoreline processes and age of the Lake Lahontan high-stand in the Jessup embayment, Nevada. Geological Society of America 110, (1998). 1318–1332.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartov, Y. The Geology of the Lisan Formation at the Massada Plain and the Lisan Peninsula. (1999). The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Google Scholar
Begin, B.Z., Ehrlich, A., and Nathan, Y. Lake Lisan—The Pleistocene precursor of the Dead Sea. Geological Survey of Israel Bulletin (1974). 63 Google Scholar
Ben-David, H. Modern and Holocene Debris Flows over the Western Escarpment of the Dead Sea. (1998). The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Google Scholar
Blair, T.C. Sedimentology of gravelly Lake Lahontan highstand shoreline deposits, Churchill Butte, Nevada, USA. Sedimentary Geology 123, (1999). 199–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowman, D. Geomorphology of the Dead Sea western margins. Niemi, T.M., Ben-Avraham, Z., and Gat, J.R. The Dead Sea—The Lake and Its Setting. (1997). 217–225.Google Scholar
Bowman, D., and Gross, T. The highest stand of Lake Lisan: ∼150 meter below MSL. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 41, (1992). 233–237.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Kadan, G., and Eyal, Y. Holocene earthquakes inferred from a fan-delta sequence in the Dead Sea graben. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 34–48.Google Scholar
Ethridge, F.G., and Wescott, W.A. Tectonic setting, recognition and hydrocarbon reservoir potential of fan-delta deposits. Koster, E.H., and Steel, R.J. Sedimentology of Gravels and Conglomerates. (1984). 217–235.Google Scholar
Frostick, L.E., and Reid, J. Climatic versus tectonic control of fan sequences—Lessons from the Dead Sea, Israel. Journal of the Geological Society of London 146, (1989). 527–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garfunkel, Z. Internal structure of the Dead Sea leaky transform (rift) in relation to plate kinematics. Tectonophysics 80, (1981). 81–108.Google Scholar
Hall, J.K. Topography and bathymetry of the Dead Sea Depression. Niemi, T.M., Ben-Avraham, Z., and Gat, J.R. The Dead Sea—The Lake and Its Setting. (1997). 11–21.Google Scholar
Kadan, G. Evidence for Dead Sea Lake-Level Fluctuations and Recent Tectonism from the Holocene Fan-Delta of Nahal Darga, Israel. (1997). Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva.Google Scholar
Kaufman, A. U-series dating of Dead Sea Basin carbonates. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 35, (1971). 1269–1281.Google Scholar
Kaufman, A., Yechieli, Y., and Gardosh, M. Reevaluation of the lake sediment chronology in the Dead Sea basin, Israel, based on new 230Th/234U dates. Quaternary Research 38, (1992). 292–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ken-Tor, R., Agnon, A., Enzel, Y., Marco, S., Negendank, J., and Stein, M. High-resolution geological record of historical earthquakes in the Dead Sea basin. Journal of Geophysical Research 106, (2001). 2221–2234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, C. Morphological evidence of lake-level changes, western shore of the Dead Sea. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 31, (1984). 67–94.Google Scholar
Machlus, M., Enzel, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Marco, S., and Stein, M. Reconstructing low-levels of Lake Lisan by correlating fan-delta and lacustrine deposits. Quaternary International 73/74, (2000). 127–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manspeizer, W. The Dead Sea Rift: Impact of climate and tectonism on Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentation. Biddle, K.T., and Christie-Blick, N. Strike-Slip Deformation, Basin Formation and Sedimentation. (1985). 143–158.Google Scholar
Marco, S., and Agnon, A. Prehistoric earthquake deformations near Massada, Dead Sea graben. Geology 23, (1995). 695–698.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marco, S., Stein, M., Agnon, A., and Ron, H. Long-term earthquake clustering: A 50,000 year paleoseismic record in the Dead Sea graben. Journal of Geophysical Research 101, (1996). 6179–6192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neev, D., and Emery, K.O. The Dead Sea; Depositional processes and environments of evaporites. Israel Geological Survey Bulletin (1967). 41 Google Scholar
Nemec, W., and Steel, R.J. Alluvial and coastal conglomerates: Their significant features and comments of gravelly mass-flow deposits. Koster, E.H., and Steel, R.J. Sedimentology of Gravels and Conglomerates. (1984). 1–31.Google Scholar
Nemec, W., and Steel, R.J. What is a fan-delta and how do we recognize it?. Nemec, W., and Steel, R.J. Fan-Deltas: Sedimentology and Tectonic Settings. (1988). Blackie, Glasgow/London. 3–13.Google Scholar
Oviatt, C.G. Lacustrine features and global climate change. Noller, J.S., Sowers, J.M., and Lettis, W.R. Quaternary Geochronology Methods and Applications. (2000). Am. Geograph. Union, Washington. 470–478.Google Scholar
Posamentier, H.W., Allen, G.P., James, D.P., and Tesson, M. Forced regression in a sequence stratigraphic framework: Concepts, examples and exploration significance. Bulletin of American Association of Petroleum Geologists 76, (1992). 1687–1709.Google Scholar
Renaut, R. W., and Owen, R. B. (1991). Shore-zone sedimentation and facies in a closed rift lake: The Holocene beach deposits of Lake Bogoria, Kenya.. In Lacustrine Facies Analysis Anadon, P., Cabrera, L. I., and Kelts, K., Eds., pp. 175–195. International Association Sedimentologist Special Publication 13.Google Scholar
Schramm, A. Uranium series and 14C dating of Lake Lisan (Paleo-Dead Sea) sediments: Implications for 14C time scale calibration and relation to global paleoclimate. (1997). Gottingen University, Google Scholar
Schramm, A., Stein, M., and Goldstein, S.L. Calibration of 14C time scale to >40 ka by 234U-230Th dating of Lake Lisan sediments (last glacial Dead Sea). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 175, (2000). 27–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sneh, A. Late Pleistocene fan-deltas along the Dead Sea Rift. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 49, (1979). 541–552.Google Scholar
Stein, M. (2000). The Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments and tectonics of the Dead Sea Basin.. In Professional field trip guide book, The First Stephan Mueller Conference of the European Geophysical Society (EGS), pp. 41–85.Google Scholar
Stein, M., Starinsky, A., Katz, A., Goldstein, S.L., Machlus, M., and Schramm, A. Sr-isotopic chemical and sedimentological evidence for the evolution of Lake Lisan and the Dead Sea. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61, (1997). 3975–3992.Google Scholar
Street-Perrott, F.A., and Harrison, S.P. Lake-level and climate reconstruction. Hecht, A.D. Paleoclimate Analysis and Modeling. (1985). Wiley-Interscience, New York. 291–340.Google Scholar
Waldman, N, Stein, M, Starinsky, A, and Katz, A. (2000). Limnological changes in Lake Samra from geochemical and mineralogical evidence of the sedimentary section of Peratzim Valley. Israel Geological Society Annual Meeting Abstracts, Ma'a lot., p, 126.Google Scholar
Wohl, E. E., and Enzel, Y. (1995). Data For Paleohydrology.. In Continental Paleohydrology Gregory, K. J., Starkel, L., and Baker, V. R., Eds., pp. 23–59. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar