scholarly journals Medieval Climate in the Eastern Mediterranean: Instability and Evidence of Solar Forcing

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochanan Kushnir ◽  
Mordechai Stein
Keyword(s):  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Cold Season ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Sediment Record ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Summer Flood

This paper examines the hydroclimate history of the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) region during the 10th to 14th centuries C.E., a period known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), a time of significant historical turmoil and change in the region. The study assembles several regional hydroclimatic archives, primarily the Dead Sea reconstructed lake level curve together with the recently extracted deep-lake sediment record, the Soreq Cave speleothem record and its counterpart, the EM marine sediment record and the Cairo Nilometer record of annual maximum summer flood levels in lower Egypt. The Dead Sea record is a primary indicator of the intensity of the EM cold-season storm activity while the Nilometer reflects the intensity of the late summer monsoon rains over Ethiopia. These two climate systems control the annual rainfall amounts and water availability in the two regional breadbaskets of old, in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The paleoclimate archives portray a variable MCA in both the Levant and the Ethiopian Highlands with an overall dry, early-medieval climate that turned wetter in the 12th century C.E. However, the paleoclimatic records are markedly punctuated by episodes of extreme aridity. In particular, the Dead Sea displays extreme low lake levels and significant salt deposits starting as early as the 9th century C.E. and ending in the late 11th century. The Nile summer flood levels were particularly low during the 10th and 11th centuries, as is also recorded in a large number of historical chronicles that described a large cluster of droughts that led to dire human strife associated with famine, pestilence and conflict. During that time droughts and cold spells also affected the northeastern Middle East, in Persia and Mesopotamia. Seeking an explanation for the pronounced aridity and human consequences across the entire EM, we note that the 10th–11th century events coincide with the medieval Oort Grand Solar Minimum, which came at the height of an interval of relatively high solar irradiance. Bringing together other tropical and Northern Hemisphere paleoclimatic evidence, we argue for the role of long-term variations in solar irradiance in shaping the early MCA in the EM and highlight their relevance to the present and near-term future.

Changes in hydroclimate during last deglaciation lake-level fall in the Dead Sea sediment record

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus J. Schwab ◽  
Daniela Müller ◽  
Ina Neugebauer ◽  
Rik Tjallingii ◽  
Yoav Ben Dor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Sediments ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Laminated Sediments ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Sediment Record ◽  
Deep Lake ◽  
The Dead

<p>The drainage basin of the Dead Sea is the largest hydrological system in the Levant and spans across the boundary between the sub-humid to semi-arid Mediterranean and the arid to hyper-arid Saharo-Arabian climate zones. As a terminal lake, precipitation changes due to climatic variations result in extensive fluctuations of lake level and sediment deposition.</p><p>A unique sediment record from the deepest part of the Dead Sea Basin was obtained as part of the ICDP Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project. Here we analyze the partially annually laminated sediments of Core 5017-1-A between 88.5-99.2 m core depth, which comprise the period between ~16.5 and ~11 ka and document a lake level drop of ca 160 m. In the sediments of Core 5017-1-A, this marks the transition from MIS2 aad (alternating aragonite and detritus) sediments to MIS1 halite deposits and ld (laminated detrital marl) sediments, coinciding with increased drying in the Dead Sea watershed.</p><p>Microfacies analyses show the occurrence of several lithological facies that accumulated during MIS2: aad, gd (massive gypsum deposit within marl), native sulfur concretions (associated with greenish colored aad), mtd (mass-transport deposits, typically graded) and homogenites consisting of clay and silt. Further, flood layers have been identified, potentially indicating rainstorms associated with specific eastern Mediterranean synoptic systems. To complement the microfacies analyses, XRF scanning provides continuous Ti/Ca and S/Ca records to reconstruct relative detrital input and gypsum occurrence, respectively. Additionally, to study potential early signs of hydroclimatic change, the deep lake sediments are correlated to the Lisan Formation of the marginal Masada outcrop using distinct gypsum marker layers, indicative of pronounced lake level drops. However, due to a significant lake level decline, the Masada outcrop sediments terminate at around 14.5 ka and the subsequent lake level lowering is solely recorded in the deep lake sediments.</p><p>This study was funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG Grant BR 2208/13-1/-2). Further, it is a contribution to the Helmholtz Association (HFG) climate initiative REKLIM Topic 8 “Abrupt climate change derived from proxy data”.</p>

Fluctuations of Lake Lisan (the Dead Sea) during the last glacial: Implications for paleoclimatic changes of the Levant.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrazad Abu Ghazleh ◽  
Stephan Kempe
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Xrd Analysis ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Fresh Water Input ◽  
The Dead

<p> </p><p>Calcareous stromatolite crusts overgrowing beach gravels and stabilising piles of rocks were observed on shoreline terraces of Lake Lisan along the eastern coast of the Dead Sea. The stromatolite crusts are thick, massive and hard, with a dark-grey or white-grey finely-laminated structure, indicating that they are mostly calcareous organic build-up of cyanobacterial origin. Samples from these stromatolites have been analyzed using Stable Isotopes (δ13C & δ18O), AAS and XRD analysis. The samples range in altitude between -350 m and -19 m, representing the time interval of Lake Lisan (~ 80-19 ka BP) according to our U/Th dating. Since stromatolites grow in shallow water, they are very sensitive to minor shifts in rainfall and evaporation and therefore an excellent tool to track small changes in hydrology, in climate and in paleoenvironmental conditions of the lake basin.</p><p> </p><p>Oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of these stromatolites show a linear covariant trend with a strong positive correlation (r = 0.8) and large ranges of 7.85 and 6.78‰, respectively. This trend is most typical of primary carbonates formed in closed lakes. Isotopes analyses show low negative values of stromatolites from the lake highest stands at -76 m to -19 m, reflecting fresh water conditions of the lake basin at the last interglacial-glacial boundary (80-76 ka BP). The lowest values were derived from stromatolites at -103 to -119 m associated with the transgression of the lake to these high stands between 55 and 33 ka BP. The heaviest values were derived from stromatolites at -137 to -160 m indicating a change to dry climatic conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean that caused a subsequent drop of the lake level during MIS 2 (31-19 ka BP).</p><p> </p><p>The Mg/Ca ratio and the XRD analysis of the stromatolites correlate also with transgression-regression phases of the lake. Dominance of calcite in stromatolites at -76 to 0 m and inferred low Mg/Ca ratios of the lake water (i.e. ~2) imply a high fresh water input of the lake during the   highest stands period. A high Mg/Ca ratio of the lake water of >7 inferred from low-level stromatolite at -350 m and the existence of aragonite as the sole mineral reflect low fresh water input and high evaporation rates that caused a lake level regression during H6, ~ 60 ka BP.</p><p> </p><p>Inferred low Mg/Ca ratios of stromatolites at -247 to -101 m and the existence of calcite as a main mineral phase indicate wet climatic conditions of the eastern Mediterranean and lake level transgression to higher than -137 during MIS 3. The appearance of more aragonite in stromatolites at -137 to -154 m and the inferred high Mg/Ca ratio of the lake water points to a return to dry climatic conditions that caused a regression of Lake Lisan between 32 to 22 ka BP (MIS 2). However, the change in the mineral composition to pure calcite at -160 m in addition to the inferred low Mg/Ca ratio correlates well with the transgression of the lake to this level by the end of the LGM.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Relationships between lake-level changes and water and salt budgets in the Dead Sea during extreme aridities in the Eastern Mediterranean

2017 ◽  
Vol 464 ◽  
pp. 211-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Kiro ◽  
Steven L. Goldstein ◽  
Javier Garcia-Veigas ◽  
Elan Levy ◽  
Yochanan Kushnir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Level ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Lake Level Changes ◽  
The Dead

CryptoTEPHras in the ICDP Dead Sea deep core to synchronise past eastern MEditerranean hydroclimate (TEPH-ME)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ina Neugebauer ◽  
Markus J. Schwab ◽  
Simon Blockley ◽  
Christine S. Lane ◽  
Birgit Plessen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Lag Phase ◽  
Deep Basin ◽  
Critical Position ◽  
Global Comparison ◽  
The Dead

<p>The hypersaline Dead Sea is a key palaeoclimate archive in the south-eastern Mediterranean region, situated at a critical position between more humid Mediterranean climate and the hyper-arid Saharo-Arabian desert belt. The ca 450 m long ICDP drill core 5017-1, recovered from the deepest part of the Dead Sea, spans the last ~220,000 years as constrained by radiocarbon, U-Th dating and floating δ<sup>18</sup>O stratigraphy methods. Nevertheless, an independent dating method is much needed because (i) radiocarbon dating is limited to the last ~40,000 years; (ii) U-Th dating of authigenic carbonates requires a complex correction procedure leading to large age uncertainties; and (iii) wiggle matching of oxygen isotope data is not independent and, hence, does not allow the identification of lead- and lag-phase relationships of changing hydroclimate in comparison to other palaeoclimate records.</p><p>Tephrochronology has been demonstrated a powerful tool for dating and synchronisation of palaeoclimate records for regional and global comparison. Due to a lack of visible tephra layers in the Dead Sea sediment record, direct links with the eastern Mediterranean tephrostratigraphical lattice are still absent. Recently, the first cryptotephra ever identified in Dead Sea sediments has been associated with the early Holocene S1-tephra from central Anatolia. This discovery encouraged a systematic search for tephra time-markers in the ICDP deep-basin core 5017-1, with the aim of improving the chronology of the deep record significantly and providing a tool for precise regional synchronisation of proxy records.</p><p>In the first phase of the TEPH-ME project focusing on the early last glacial (ca 100-110 ka) and lateglacial (ca 11-15 ka) time intervals in the ICDP core, we have identified more cryptotephra layers than expected. First glass geochemical data suggest that the majority of volcanic ash in the Dead Sea sediments originates from Anatolian volcanic provinces. Even though proximal Anatolian tephra data for comparison are still limited, the identification of cryptotephra in the long Dead Sea record provides novel opportunities to advance the tephrostratigraphical framework in this region, e.g. through synchronising the Dead Sea and Lake Van (eastern Anatolia) sediment records, but also with archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sites that are currently investigated in the Levant and in Arabia.</p>

Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehouda Enzel ◽  
Revital Bookman (Ken Tor) ◽  
David Sharon ◽  
Haim Gvirtzman ◽  
Uri Dayan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Wet Spells

AbstractThe Dead Sea is a terminal lake of one of the largest hydrological systems in the Levant and may thus be viewed as a large rain gauge for the region. Variations of its level are indicative of the climate variations in the region. Here, we present the decadal- to centennial-resolution Holocene lake-level curve of the Dead Sea. Then we determine the regional hydroclimatology that affected level variations. To achieve this goal we compare modern natural lake-level variations and instrumental rainfall records and quantify the hydrology relative to lake-level rise, fall, or stability. To quantify that relationship under natural conditions, rainfall data pre-dating the artificial Dead Sea level drop since the 1960s are used. In this respect, Jerusalem station offers the longest uninterrupted pre-1960s rainfall record and Jerusalem rains serve as an adequate proxy for the Dead Sea headwaters rainfall. Principal component analysis indicates that temporal variations of annual precipitation in all stations in Israel north of the current 200 mm yr−1 average isohyet during 1940–1990 are largely synchronous and in phase (∼70% of the total variance explained by PC1). This station also represents well northern Jordan and the area all the way to Beirut, Lebanon, especially during extreme drought and wet spells. We (a) determine the modern, and propose the past regional hydrology and Eastern Mediterranean (EM) climatology that affected the severity and length of droughts/wet spells associated with multiyear episodes of Dead Sea level falls/rises and (b) determine that EM cyclone tracks were different in average number and latitude in wet and dry years in Jerusalem. The mean composite sea level pressure and 500-mb height anomalies indicate that the potential causes for wet and dry episodes span the entire EM and are rooted in the larger-scale northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation. We also identified remarkably close association (within radiocarbon resolution) between climatic changes in the Levant, reflected by level changes, and culture shifts in this region.

Micro- and macroseismicity of the Dead Sea rift and off-coast eastern Mediterranean

1981 ◽  
Vol 80 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 199-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ari Ben-Menahem ◽  
Ezra Aboodi
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Dead

scholarly journals Intermediate Bronze Age in Southern Levant (4200–4000 BP) – Why Did Four Cities in Transjordan Survive Urban Collapse?

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-10
Author(s):  
Michał E. Bieniada
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Littoral Zone ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
The Dead

Abstract The first urban culture of southern Levant collapsed and the first period of urbanisation of Canaan (Early Bronze Age I-III) terminated at around 4200 yrs BP. The Canaanites abandoned their walled cities, dispersed and underwent pastoralisation. However, the urban centres of southern Canaan were not destroyed. This fact may point to responsibility of the environmental factor and makes influence influence of anthropogenic factors uncertain, along with the most popular Amorite invasion/destruction hypothesis. A tremendous climatic change occurred at that time in many regions, affecting cultures and civilisations of the Ancient Near East and resulting in abandonment of cities, migrations and great civilizational changes. In southern Levant, virtually all cities were left in ruins with a mysterious exception in Transjordan where four cities: Aroer, Ader, Khirbet Iskander and Iktanu survived and existed throughout the period. Most probably when climatic conditions in Cisjordan excluded possibility of urban life, the ones in Transjordan conditions remained unchanged or altered in a very limited scale. It is now clear that after a period with quite humid and warm climate, the precipitation greatly diminished after 4200 yrs BP in a littoral zone of eastern Mediterranean. A part of Transjordan, probably due to presence of the Dead Sea that somehow created conditions that influenced precipitation, remained a climatic niche with decent rainfall that enabled concentration of population in and around big urban centres and continuation of urban civilisation. Warming in a littoral zone changed dew point temperature preventing formations of clouds above western slopes of Judean and Samarian Hills. Moist air, prevented from condensation was transported eastwards where it could reach ascending currents appearing over the Dead Sea. Masses of air with water vapour moving upwards could form rainy clouds in Transjordan.

scholarly journals Tectonic and Geologic Evolution of Syria

GeoArabia ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Brew ◽  
Muawia Barazangi ◽  
Ahmad Khaled Al-Maleh ◽  
Tarif Sawaf
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Tectonic Deformation ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead

ABSTRACT Using extensive surface and subsurface data, we have synthesized the Phanerozoic tectonic and geologic evolution of Syria that has important implications for eastern Mediterranean tectonic studies and the strategies for hydrocarbon exploration. Syrian tectonic deformation is focused in four major zones that have been repeatedly reactivated throughout the Phanerozoic in response to movement on nearby plate boundaries. They are the Palmyride Mountains, the Euphrates Fault System, the Abd el Aziz-Sinjar uplifts, and the Dead Sea Fault System. The Palmyrides include the SW Palmyride fold and thrust belt and two inverted sub-basins that are now the Bilas and Bishri blocks. The Euphrates Fault System and Abd el Aziz-Sinjar grabens in eastern Syria are large extensional features with a more recent history of Neogene compression and partial inversion. The Dead Sea transform plate boundary cuts through western Syria and has associated pull-apart basins. The geological history of Syria has been reconstructed by combining the interpreted geologic history of these zones with tectonic and lithostratigraphic analyses from the remainder of the country. Specific deformation episodes were penecontemporaneous with regional-scale plate-tectonic events. Following a relatively quiescent early Paleozoic shelf environment, the NE-trending Palmyride/Sinjar Trough formed across central Syria in response to regional compression followed by Permian-Triassic opening of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the eastern Mediterranean. This continued with carbonate deposition in the Mesozoic. Late Cretaceous tectonism was dominated by extension in the Euphrates Fault System and Abd el Aziz-Sinjar Graben in eastern Syria associated with the closing of the Neo-Tethys. Repeated collisions along the northern Arabian margin from the Late Cretaceous to the Late Miocene caused platform-wide compression. This led to the structural inversion and horizontal shortening of the Palmyride Trough and Abd el Aziz-Sinjar Graben.

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