Quantitative assessment of glacial fluctuations in the level of Lake Lisan, Dead Sea rift

Rohling, Eelco J.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.03.013

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…In sector 4, fields are parched throughout the year, and lakes are 378 dropping very fast. The Dead Sea, a well-known arid lake/sea in the Levant, has a Φ of about 40, and 389 more sophisticated calculation for the Dead Sea suggests that P0 = ~110 mm/y 390 (Rohling, 2013). Given the great simplicity of the scenarios presented here, the 391 range of the red curves in Figure 1 at Φ = 40 is in decent agreement with that 392 more accurate P0 value.…”

supporting

confidence: 52%

“…Given the great simplicity of the scenarios presented here, the 391 range of the red curves in Figure 1 at Φ = 40 is in decent agreement with that 392 more accurate P0 value. Note that freshwater evaporation rates (or pan-393 evaporation rates) in the Dead Sea region are twice the rate used here, but that 394 evaporation from the Dead Sea itself occurs at only half the pan-evaporation 395 rates due to the sea's extreme salinity (Rohling, 2013 The lake is located in a flat plain (ancient lake bed), and any refill or reduction is 428 associated with large changes in Φ. Today the lake is small and roughly at steady 429 state.…”

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confidence: 95%

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Of lakes and fields: A framework for reconciling palaeoclimatic drought inferences with archaeological impacts

Rohling

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Quantitative estimates of climate variability are increasingly important in interpretations of archaeological turnovers in arid regions. Variations in lake levels or lake-water oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) are often used to infer droughts or humid periods, along with speleothem δ18O pollen, and windblown dust records. Key examples are the centennial-scale Holocene events associated with the end of the Bronze Age (~1200 BCE), the end of the Copper Age (~4000 BCE), and the onset of Neolithic expansion (~6200 BCE). Whether explicitly stated or only implied, causality between archaeological turnovers and inferred droughts is often ascribed to a disturbance to food resources, which means a disturbance to the agricultural potential of the study region. In the present study, a simple framework of equations is presented for evaluation of this causality. It quantitatively reveals significant complications. In one example, substantially improved crop-growing potential is found to coincide with dropping lake levels, which reflect significant net drought. The complications mainly arise from: (1) control of annually averaged climate conditions on lake changes versus control of seasonal conditions on the yield potential of fields; and (2) changes in the ratios between the overall catchment area of a lake or field, and the surface area of the lake or field itself. The results demonstrate that lake records per se do not satisfactorily reflect agricultural potential, but also that this gap may be bridged with targeted information collection about the regional setting. In particular, improved results may be obtained from detailed assessments of change in the catchment ratios of the lake(s) and field(s) that are being studied (e.g., using digital elevation models), along with expert opinions on field irrigation potential. The scenarios presented here then allow initial field-based assessments and hypothesis formulation to prompt more sophisticated modelling.Lakes exhibit different sensitivities to precipitation changes than farming fields.The relationship between lake level and δ 18 O and field moisture is non-linear. Lake levels may have been dropping, while fields were getting wetter.Results may guide initial field-based assessments.Results may guide formulation of hypotheses for more sophisticated modelling. Highlights (for review)Rohling (final revision) -response to reviewer comments I have adjusted the final comments of the reviewer, and included the reference he provided. I have also scaled the figures to single-column size (width 90 mm). is often ascribed to a disturbance to food resources, which means a disturbance 21 to the agricultural potential of the study region. In the present study, a simple 22 framework of equations is presented for evaluation of this causality. It 23 quantitatively reveals significant complications. In one example, substantially 24 *Manuscript Click here to view linked References 2 improved crop-growing potential is found to coincide with dropping lake levels, 25 which reflect signific...

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confidence: 95%

Of lakes and fields: A framework for reconciling palaeoclimatic drought inferences with archaeological impacts

Rohling

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…This is quantitatively supported 385 by calculations of Dead Sea (=Lake Lisan) levels over the past 120 ka BP (Rohling, 2013). 386…”

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confidence: 75%

The timing of Mediterranean sapropel deposition relative to insolation, sea-level and African monsoon changes

Grant

Grimm

Mikolajewicz

et al. 2016

Quaternary Science Reviews

161

170

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The Mediterranean basin is sensitive to global sea-level changes and African monsoon variability on orbital timescales. Both of these processes are thought to be important to the deposition of organicrich sediment layers or 'sapropels' throughout the eastern Mediterranean, yet their relative influences remain ambiguous. A related issue is that an assumed 3-kyr lag between boreal insolation maxima and sapropel midpoints remains to be tested. Here we present new geochemical and icevolume-corrected planktonic foraminiferal stable isotope records for sapropels S1 (Holocene), S3, S4, and S5 (Marine Isotope Stage 5) in core LC21 from the southern Aegean Sea. The records have a radiometrically constrained chronology that has already been synchronised with the Red Sea relative sea-level record, and this allows detailed examination of the timing of sapropel deposition relative to insolation, sea-level, and African monsoon changes. We find that sapropel onset was near-synchronous with monsoon run-off into the eastern Mediterranean, but that insolationsapropel/monsoon phasings were not systematic through the last glacial cycle. These latter phasings instead appear to relate to sea-level changes. We propose that persistent meltwater discharges into the North Atlantic (e.g., at glacial terminations) modified the timing of sapropel deposition by delaying the timing of peak African monsoon run-off. These observations may reconcile apparent model-data offsets with respect to the orbital pacing of the African monsoon. Our observations also imply that the previous assumption of a systematic 3-kyr lag between insolation maxima and sapropel midpoints may lead to overestimated insolationsapropel phasings. Finally, we surmise that both sea-level rise and monsoon run-off contributed to surface-water buoyancy changes at times of sapropel deposition, and their relative influences differed per sapropel case, depending on their magnitudes. Sea-level rise was clearly important for sapropel S1, whereas monsoon forcing was more important for sapropels S3, S4, and S5. On behalf of all authors, I hereby submit our revised manuscript "The timing of Mediterranean sapropel deposition relative to insolation, sea-level and African monsoon changes" for publication as an article in Quaternary Science Reviews.We have addressed all comments of both reviewers by incorporating their suggestions into the text, and we also include results from the Kandiano et al. (2014) study in our revised Figure 4 and in the discussion of meltwater effects in section 3.2. Figures 1 and 3b have also been slightly amended, and the reference list has been extended in order to adequately address the reviewers' suggestions. Line references to added/amended text are given in our response to reviewers. The changes have not altered our original conclusions, but they have enriched the manuscript by providing a more comprehensive investigation of the environmental factors that could have contributed to negative  18 O anomalies in the Mediterranean at (or near) times of ...

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“…When we consider aragonite, one possibility is that the variability in the aragonite δ 44 Ca is due to changes in the calcium isotope fractionation controlled by temperature over the glacial‐interglacial cycle. However, in the case of Lake Lisan, modeled temperature over the last 70 kyr assumed variations in lake temperature of 7.5 °C (Rohling, ), consistent with corresponding temperature changes ~6–7 °C in the nearby Soreq Cave (Affek et al, ), which would alter the calcium isotope fractionation during aragonite precipitation by 0.11‰, compared with the almost fivefold larger range in δ 44 Ca observed in the aragonite minerals from the Lisan Formation. Therefore, it is unlikely that variability in the aragonite δ 44 Ca is controlled solely by changes in temperature.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Studies of the limnological history of the Dead Sea Basin lakes have resulted in the reconstruction of an absolute lake level curve for the last 70 ka (Bartov et al, 2002(Bartov et al, , 2003Bookman et al, 2006;Migowski et al, 2006;Torfstein, Goldstein, Kagan, & Stein, 2013;Torfstein, Goldstein, Stein, & Enzel, 2013). The water level of the Dead Sea and its glacial predecessor, Lake Lisan, reflects the volume of incoming freshwater, such that glacial high water levels represent extremely wet conditions in the Levant (Enzel et al, 2008;Frumkin et al, 2011;Haase-Schramm et al, 2004;Rohling, 2013;Stein et al, 1997;Torfstein et al, 2008;Torfstein, Goldstein, Stein, & Enzel, 2013). Other studies have argued for a dry (and cold) glacial cycle characterized by relatively reduced evaporation that supported higher water levels (Bar- Matthews et al, 1997;Lisker et al, 2010;Miebach et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Calcium Isotope Systematics of the Late Quaternary Dead Sea Basin Lakes

Bradbury

Torfstein

Wong

et al. 2018

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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We report the calcium isotopic composition (δ44Ca) of primary aragonite laminae, primary gypsum, and secondary gypsum in sediments deposited from Lake Lisan, the last glacial cycle of the Dead Sea (70–14.5 ka). The δ44Ca of primary gypsum varies between 0.17‰ and 0.71‰ versus bulk silicate earth, with an average of 0.29‰, whereas the aragonite δ44Ca varies between −0.68‰ and −0.16‰ with an average of −0.4‰. The secondary gypsum δ44Ca is close to the calcium isotope composition of the aragonite, averaging at −0.3‰. The aragonite δ44Ca shows small variations temporally in sync with lake level fluctuations, suggesting the aragonite δ44Ca reflects changes in the lake calcium balance, which in turn reflects changes in the local hydrological cycle. The secondary gypsum calcium isotope composition (−0.3‰) overlaps with that of coeval aragonite, suggesting the calcium for secondary gypsum was derived from the aragonite through quantitative, or near‐isotopic equilibrium, recrystallization of the aragonite to gypsum after the lake desiccation and exposure of sediments during the Holocene. A numerical box model is used to explore the effect of changing lake water levels on the calcium isotope composition of the aragonite and gypsum in the lake. The relatively low variability in the δ44Ca over the lake's history suggests that a high‐concentration calcium‐rich brine buffers the calcium cycle.

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Quantitative assessment of glacial fluctuations in the level of Lake Lisan, Dead Sea rift

Cited by 29 publications

References 55 publications

Of lakes and fields: A framework for reconciling palaeoclimatic drought inferences with archaeological impacts

Of lakes and fields: A framework for reconciling palaeoclimatic drought inferences with archaeological impacts

The timing of Mediterranean sapropel deposition relative to insolation, sea-level and African monsoon changes

The Calcium Isotope Systematics of the Late Quaternary Dead Sea Basin Lakes

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