Book contents
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Quaternary of the Levant
- Part I: The Evolution of Current Landscapes and Basins
- Part II: Palaeoclimates
- Part III: Archaeology of Human Evolution
- Part IV: Palaeoecology
- Part V: Quaternary Geomorphology
- 46 Cosmogenic-Isotope Based Erosion Rates along the Western Margin of the Dead Sea Fault
- 47 Palaeogeography and Palaeohydrology of Fluvial Systems in the Levant, Southeastern Mediterranean
- 48 Quaternary Fluvial Environments and Palaeohydrology in Syria
- 49 Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Signatures of Pedogenic Carbonates in Arid and Extremely Arid Environments in the Levant
- 50 Evolution of the Southeastern Mediterranean Coastal Plain
- 51 Middle–Late Quaternary Wetlands along the Coastal Plain of Israel
- 52 The Fluvial Systems
- 53 Loess in the Negev Desert: Sources, Loessial Soils, Palaeosols, and Palaeoclimatic Implications
- 54 Isotopic Tracers of Dust and Loess in the Levant
- 55 Loess, Dunes, and Human Activities
- 56 Late Quaternary Chronologies of the Northern Sinai/Northwestern Negev Dunefield and their Palaeoclimatic and Palaeoenvironmental Implications
- 57 Aridisols in the Southern Levant Deserts and their Palaeoclimate Implications
- 58 Quaternary Sediments and Soils of Jordan
- Part VI: Humans in the Levant
- Index
- Plate section
- References
52 - The Fluvial Systems
Studies of Stream Terraces in the Negev Highlands and their Relationship with the Levant Alluvial Chronologies
from Part V: - Quaternary Geomorphology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2017
Book contents
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Quaternary of the Levant
- Part I: The Evolution of Current Landscapes and Basins
- Part II: Palaeoclimates
- Part III: Archaeology of Human Evolution
- Part IV: Palaeoecology
- Part V: Quaternary Geomorphology
- 46 Cosmogenic-Isotope Based Erosion Rates along the Western Margin of the Dead Sea Fault
- 47 Palaeogeography and Palaeohydrology of Fluvial Systems in the Levant, Southeastern Mediterranean
- 48 Quaternary Fluvial Environments and Palaeohydrology in Syria
- 49 Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Signatures of Pedogenic Carbonates in Arid and Extremely Arid Environments in the Levant
- 50 Evolution of the Southeastern Mediterranean Coastal Plain
- 51 Middle–Late Quaternary Wetlands along the Coastal Plain of Israel
- 52 The Fluvial Systems
- 53 Loess in the Negev Desert: Sources, Loessial Soils, Palaeosols, and Palaeoclimatic Implications
- 54 Isotopic Tracers of Dust and Loess in the Levant
- 55 Loess, Dunes, and Human Activities
- 56 Late Quaternary Chronologies of the Northern Sinai/Northwestern Negev Dunefield and their Palaeoclimatic and Palaeoenvironmental Implications
- 57 Aridisols in the Southern Levant Deserts and their Palaeoclimate Implications
- 58 Quaternary Sediments and Soils of Jordan
- Part VI: Humans in the Levant
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
In this chapter, we evaluate the stream alluvial terraces in the Negev Highlands as palaeoenvironmental responders to Quaternary climates and tectonics. The generation of terraces in the Negev Highlands in light of climatic fluctuations is discussed. Then, we review the relations between regional tectonics and the major erosion, incision and fluvial terraces formation since the late Miocene initial development of the current drainage system. We also evaluate the relationship between the stream terraces in the Negev Highlands and other Levant alluvial chronologies. Forces underlying the fluvial terrace formation in the Negev Highlands are primarily orbital-scale climatic fluctuations, shifting between relatively wetter, high sediment production and sedimentation, and drier intervals imposing incision. These aggradation-incision cycles are superimposed on the long-term and much older tectonic forcing of doming and arching of the Negev. In general, similar incision and deposition history prevailed in the wider Levant, with some local modifications.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Quaternary of the LevantEnvironments, Climate Change, and Humans, pp. 457 - 470Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2017
References
Aitken, M.J. 1998. An Introduction to Optical Dating. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Simhai, O., Ayalon, A. et al. 2011. Transition from arid to hyper-arid environment in the southern Levant deserts as recorded by early Pleistocene cummulic Aridisols. Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 312–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arkin, Y. & Braun, M. 1965. Type Sections of Upper Cretaceous Formations in the Northern Negev (Southern Israel). Stratigraphic Sections 2. Jerusalem: Israel Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Avni, Y. 1991. The geology, paleogeography and the landscape evolution of the central Negev Highlands and the western Ramon structure. Geological Survey of Israel GSI/6/91 [Hebrew, English abstract].Google Scholar
Avni, Y. 1998. Paleogeography and tectonics of the central Negev and the Dead Sea Rift western margin during the late Neogene and Quaternary. Geological Survey of Israel Report GSI/24/98 [Hebrew, English abstract].Google Scholar
Avni, Y. & Weiler, N. 2013. The Geological Map of Israel (1:50,000) Sede Boqer Sheet (18-IV).Google Scholar
Avni, Y. & Zilberman, E. 2007. Landscape evolution triggered by neotectonics in the Sede Zin region, Central Negev, Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 55: 189–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avni, Y., Bartov, Y., Garfunkel, Z. & Ginat, H. 2000a. Evolution of the Paran drainage basin and its relations to the Plio-Pleistocene history of the Arava Rift western margin, Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 49: 215–38.Google Scholar
Avni, Y., Porat, N. & Amit, R. 2000b. Morphostratigraphy, soil chrono-sequence and luminescence dating of Pleistocene terraces in Nahal Paran, central Negev, Israel. Israel Geological Society Annual Meeting Abstracts, p. 10.Google Scholar
Avni, Y., Bartov, Y., Garfunkel, Z. & Ginat, H. 2001. The Arava Formation – a Pliocene sequence in the Arava Valley and its western margin, southern Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 50: 101–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avni, Y., Segev, A. & Ginat, H. 2012a. Oligocene regional denudation of the northern Afar dome: Pre and syn breakup stages of the Afro-Arabian plate. Geological Society of America Bulletin 124(11/12): 1971–87.Google Scholar
Avni, Y., Porat, N. & Avni, G. 2012b. Pre-farming environment and OSL chronology in the Negev Highlands, Israel. Journal of Arid Environments 86: 12–27.Google Scholar
Bartov, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M. & Enzel, Y. 2003. Catastrophic arid episodes in the eastern Mediterranean linked with the North Atlantic Heinrich events. Geology 31: 439–42.Google Scholar
Bertrams, M., Protze, J., Lohrer, R. et al. 2012. Multiple environmental change at the time of the Modern Human passage through the Middle East: First results from geoarcheological investigations on Upper Pleistocene sediments in the Wadi Sabra (Jordan). Quaternary International 274: 55–72.Google Scholar
Bowman, D., Karnieli, A., Issar, A. & Bruins, H.J. 1986. Residual colluvio-aeolian aprons in the Negev Highlands (Israel) as a paleo-climatic indicator, Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 56: 89–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, M. 1967. Type Sections of Avedat Group, Eocene Formations in the Negev (Southern Israel). Stratigraphic Sections 4. Jerusalem: Israel Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Bridgland, D.R., Westaway, R., Abou Romieh, M. et al. 2012. The River Orontes in Syria and Turkey: Downstream variation of fluvial archives in different crustal blocks. Geomorphology 165–166: 25–49.Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J. 2012 Ancient desert agriculture in the Negev and climate-zone boundary changes during average, wet and drought years. Journal of Arid Environments 86: 28–42.Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J. & Yaalon, D.H. 1979. Stratigraphy of the Netivot section in the desert loess of the Negev, Israel. Acta Geologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungarica 22: 161–9.Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J. & Yaalon, D.H. 1992. Parallel advance of slopes in aeolian loess deposits of the northern Negev, Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 41: 189–99.Google Scholar
Bull, W.B. 1991. Geomorphic Responses to Climatic Change. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crouvi, O., Amit, R., Enzel, Y., Porat, N. & Sandler, A. 2008. Sand dunes as a major proximal dust source for late Pleistocene loess in the Negev Desert, Israel. Quaternary Research 70: 275–82.Google Scholar
Crouvi, O., Amit, R., Porat, N. et al. 2009. Significance of primary hill top loess in reconstructing dust chronology, accretion rates, and sources: An example from the Negev Desert, Israel. Journal of Geophysical Research – Earth Surface 114: F02017.Google Scholar
Crouvi, O., Amit, R., Enzel, Y. & Gillespie, A.R. 2010. Active sand seas and the formation of desert loess. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 2087–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidovich, U., Porat, N., Gadot, Y., Avni, Y. & Lipschits, O. 2012. Archaeological investigations and OSL dating of terraces at Ramat Rahel, Israel. Journal of Field Archaeology 37: 192–208.Google Scholar
Demir, T., Seyrek, A., Westaway, R. et al. 2012. Late Cenozoic regional uplift and localized crustal deformation within the northern Arabian Platform in southeast Turkey: Investigation of the Euphrates terraces staircase using multidisciplinary techniques. Geomorphology 165–166: 7–24.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Dayan, U. et al. 2008. The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the Late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts. Global and Planetary Change 60: 165–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Crouvi, O. & Porat, N. 2010. Abrasion-derived sediments under intensified winds at the latest Pleistocene leading edge of the advancing Sinai–Negev erg. Quaternary Research 74: 121–31.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Drodek, T. et al. 2012. Late Quaternary weathering, erosion, and deposition in Nahal Yael, Israel: An ‘impact of climatic change on an arid watershed’? Geological Society of America Bulletin 124: 705–22.Google Scholar
Faershtein, G. 2012. Aggradation–Incision Relationship in the Late Pleistocene in Negev Highlands, Southern Israel. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem [Hebrew, English abstract].Google Scholar
Folk, R.L. 1954. The distinction between grain size and mineral composition in sedimentary rock nomenclature. The Journal of Geology 62: 344–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerson, R., Grossman, S. & Bowman, D. 1985. Stages in the creation of a large rift valley, geomorphic evolution along the southern Dead Sea Rift. In Tectonic Geomorphology, ed. Morisawa, M. & Hack, J.T.. Boston: Allen & Unwin, pp. 53–73.Google Scholar
Ginat, H. 1997. Paleogeography and landscape evolution of the Nahal Hiyyon and Nahal Zihor basins (sedimentology, climatic and tectonic aspects). Geological Survey of Israel Report GSI/19/97 [Hebrew, English abstract].Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. 1986. Late Quaternary environmental history of the southern Levant. Geoarchaeology 1: 225–44.Google Scholar
Goldreich, Y. 2003. The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guralnik, B., Matmon, A., Porat, N. & Fink, D. 2011. Constraining the evolution of river terraces with integrated OSL and cosmogenic nuclide data. Quaternary Geochronology 6: 22–32.Google Scholar
Green, C.P. & McGregor, D.F.M. 1987. River terraces: A stratigraphic record of environmental change. In International Geomorphology 1986, Part I, ed. Gardiner, V. & British Geomorphological Research Group. Chichester and New York: Wiley, pp. 977–87.Google Scholar
Marks, A.E. 1983. Prehistory and paleoenvironments of the central Negev, Israel. In The Avdat/Aqev Area, Part 3, vol. III, ed. Marks, A.E.. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
McLaren, S.J., Gilbertson, D.D., Grattan, J.P. et al. 2004. Quaternary palaeogeomorphologic evolution of the Wadi Faynan area, southern Jordan. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 205: 131–54.Google Scholar
Merritts, D. 2007. Fluvial environments: Terrace sequences. In Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, ed. Elias, S.A. Elsevier, pp. 694–704.Google Scholar
Issar, A.S. & Bruins, H.J. 1983. Special climatological conditions in the deserts of Sinai and the Negev during the latest Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 43: 63–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issar, A., Kamieli, A., Bruins, H.J. & Gilead, I. 1984. The Quaternary geology and hydrology of Sede Zin. Negev. Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 33: 34–42.Google Scholar
Trifonov, V.G., Bachmanov, D.M., Simakova, A.N. et al. 2014. Dating and correlation of the Quaternary fluvial terraces in Syria, applied to tectonic deformation in the region. Quaternary International 328–329: 74–93.Google Scholar
Kahana, R., Ziv, B., Enzel, Y. & Dayan, U. 2002. Synoptic climatology of major floods in the Negev Desert, Israel. International Journal of Climatology 22: 867–82.Google Scholar
Plakht, J. 1996. Mapping of Quaternary units in Makhtesh Ramon. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 45: 217–22.Google Scholar
Plakht, J. 2000. Quaternary units in Makhteshim, Negev Desert: Similarities and peculiarities. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 49: 179–87.Google Scholar
Plakht, J. 2001. Relief structure and the Quaternary history of the Makhteshim. In The Makhteshim Country: A Laboratory of Nature, ed. Krasnov, B & Mazor, E. Pansoft, pp. 59–84.Google Scholar
Plakht, J. 2003. Quaternary maps of Makhtesh Hatira and Makhtesh Hazera, Negev Desert. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 52: 31–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharon, D. & Kutiel, H. 1986. The distribution of rainfall intensity in Israel, its regional and seasonal variations and its climatological evaluation. Journal of Hydrology 6: 277–91.Google Scholar
Sheinkman, V., Plakht, J. & Mazor, E. 2001. Makhtesh Hazera, the Zin Valley and the Dead Sea Basin: Evolutionary links. In The Makhteshim Country: A Laboratory of Nature, ed. Krasnov, B. & Mazor, E.. Pansoft, pp. 97–104.Google Scholar
Stein, M. 2014. The evolution of Neogene–Quaternary water-bodies in the Dead Sea Rift Valley. In Dead Sea Transform Fault System: Reviews, ed. Garfunkel, Z., Ben-Avraham, Z. & Kagan, E., Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences 6. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 279–315. doi:10.1007/978–94–017–8872–4-10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torfstein, A., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M. & Enzel, Y. 2013. Impacts of abrupt climate changes in the Levant from Last Glacial Dead Sea levels. Quaternary Science Reviews 69: 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A. et al. 2006. Palaeoclimate and location of border between Mediterranean climate region and the Saharo-Arabian Desert as revealed by speleothems from the northern Negev Desert, Israel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 249: 384–99.Google Scholar
Yair, A. & Enzel, E. 1987. The relationship between annual rainfall and sediment yield in arid and semi-arid areas: The case of the northern Negev. Catena 10: 121–35.Google Scholar
Zilberman, E. 1991. Landscape evolution in the central, northern and northwestern Negev during the Neogene and the Quaternary. Geological Survey of Israel Report GSI/45/90 [Hebrew, English abstract].Google Scholar
Zilberman, E. 1992. Remnants of Miocene landscape in the central and northern Negev and their paleogeographic implications. Geological Survey of Israel Bulletin 83.Google Scholar
Zilberman, E. 1993. The late Pleistocene sequence of the northwestern Negev flood plains – a key to reconstructing the palaoclimate of southern Israel in the last glacial. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 41: 155–68.Google Scholar
- 2
- Cited by