The palaeoflood record of a hyperarid catchment, Nahal Zin, Negev Desert, Israel

Abstract

The palaeohydrology of Nahal Zin, a 1400 km 2 catchment in the hyperarid Negev Desert, is inferred from slackwater deposits and palaeostage indicators in a canyon near its lower end. The palaeoflood record, augmented by the instrumental and historical records of the last decade, includes 28 floods ranging from 200 to 1500 m 3 s À1 over the last 2000 years. This helps to reanalyse the frequency of floods in this drainage system. The clusters of floods around 1000 years BP and again during the last 60 years are characterized by high flow magnitudes.Periods with many floods correspond well to periods with high Dead Sea levels and are probably relatively wet periods, while periods with few floods correspond well to low Dead Sea levels indicating a drier climate. Fluctuations in the frequency of floods are typical of periods of transition from one climate regime to another.

Holocene flooding and climate change in the Mediterranean

“…The long-term analysis of extreme hydrological events in Mediterranean alluvial records started in a systematic way in the 1990s, and focused on improving the chronological resolution of flood records based on dating and analysis of slackwater flood deposits (Benito et al, 1998;Greenbaum et al, 2000), sequences of fine-grained sediments deposited on floodplain environments indicative of high stage flows (López-Avilés et al, 1998;Zielhofer et al 2002, and boulder berm deposits (Maas and Macklin, 2002). Flood frequency patterns have been related to shifts in atmospheric circulation patterns Thorndycraft and Benito, 2006a,b;, including the NAO (Maas and Macklin, 2002;Benito et al, 2008).…”

“…2; Table 1), which for the purposes of this review includes mainland Greece (Fuchs and Lang, 2001;Wagner, 2003, 2005;Jing and Rapp, 2003;Koukouvelas et al, 2001;Lespez, 2003;Pavlides et al, 2004;Pope and Wilkinson, 2006) and islands (Booth, 2010;Deckers, 2005;Maas, 1998;Maas et al, 1998;Macklin et al, 2010;Zacharias et al, 2009), Albania (Carcaillet et al, 2009), Turkey (Beach and Luzzadder-Beach, 2008;Casana, 2008) and Israel (Goldberg, 1984;Greenbaum et al, 2000). It is the most seismically active region of the Mediterranean (Stiros, 2009) and has significant hydrological variability with average annual rainfall ranging from more than 1500 mm in the Pindus Moutains of north-west Greece to less than 200 mm in the hyper-arid catchments of southern Israel.…”

The Palaeoflood record of the Gardon River, France: A comparison with the extreme 2002 flood event

“…As a result, a layer of these deposits is formed. This sediment may be preserved in protected sites, such as: caves and alcoves in the canyon walls; and channel expansions upstream of channel contractions (Kochel and Baker, 1982;Ely and Baker, 1985;Baker, 1987;Baker and Kochel, 1988;Enzel et al, 1994;Greenbaum et al, 2000;Springer, 2002;Webb et al, 2002;Benito et al, 2003a;Benito and Thorndycraft, 2005). Subsequent flood deposits may accumulate above this layer by floods with stages higher than the top of the depositional sequence (Baker, 1987).…”

Les différentes approches méthodologiques de reconstitution des paléo-inondations : une revue de la littérature

“…La majorité des travaux consacrés à l'étude des paléo-inondations a été réalisée dans des environnements caractérisés par des régimes fluviaux de climats arides ou semi-arides, telles que les régions du Sud ou du Sud-Ouest américain (BAKER, 2000 ;CHATTERS et HOOVER, 1994 ;ELY, 1997 ;EKY ef al., 1993 ;ENZEL ef al., 1993 ;GRIMM ef al., 1995 ;HOUSE et BAKER, 2001 ;HOUSE ef al., 2002b ;McQUEEN ef al., 1993 ;O'CONNOR et al, 1994 ;PARTRIDGE et BAKER, 1985 ;WEBB et RATHBURN, 1989 ;WEBB ef al., 2002), de l'Australie ou d'Afrique (BAKER ef al., 1985 ;GALE ef al., 1990 ;HEINE et HEINE, 2002 ;OSTENNA ef al., 2002 ;PlCKUP et al, 1988 ;WOHL ef al., 1994 ;ZAWADA et HAT-TINGH, 1994). Mais on trouve aussi un certain nombre de travaux réalisés dans des régions soumises à des conditions climatiques humides ou sub-humides, comme au Japon, en Inde ou en Chine (ELY ef al., 1996 ;GROSSMAN, 2001 ;JONES ef al., 2001 ;KALE ef al., 1997 ;THORSON, 1989 ;YANG et al, 2000).…”