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Activation of a small ephemeral lake in southern Jordan during the last full glacial period and its paleoclimatic implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2017

Gentry A. Catlett ,
Jason A. Rech ,
Jeffrey S. Pigati ,
Mustafa Al Kuisi ,
Shanying Li  and
Jeffrey S. Honke
Gentry A. Catlett
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA
Jason A. Rech*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA
Jeffrey S. Pigati
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS-980, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA
Mustafa Al Kuisi
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Geology and Environment, The University of Jordan, PO Box 13437, Amman 11942, Jordan
Shanying Li
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, People’s Republic of China
Jeffrey S. Honke
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS-980, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA. E-mail address: rechja@miamioh.edu (J. A. Rech).
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Abstract

Playas, or ephemeral lakes, are one of the most common depositional environments in arid and semiarid lands worldwide. Playa deposits, however, have mostly been avoided as paleoclimatic archives because they typically contain exceptionally low concentrations of organic material, making 14C dating difficult. Here, we describe a technique for concentrating organic matter in sediments for radiocarbon dating and apply it to playa sediments recovered from a 2.35 m sediment core from a small playa in southern Jordan. Based on 14C ages of the organic concentrate fraction, the playa was active from ~29 to 21 ka, coincident with the last major high stand of Paleolake Lisan and wet conditions recorded by other paleoclimatic proxies in the southernmost Levant during the last full glacial period (35–20 ka). The timing and spatial pattern of these records suggests that the increased moisture was likely derived from more frequent and deeper eastern Mediterranean (EM) cyclones associated with the intensification of the westerlies. The presence of full glacial pluvial deposits in southern Jordan (29°N), and the lack of similarly aged deposits in the northern Arabian Peninsula to the south, suggests that the southerly limit of the incursion of EM cyclones during last full glacial period was ~28°N.

Keywords

Southern LevantJordanFull glacial periodPlayaRadiocarbon dating
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 88 , Issue 1 , July 2017 , pp. 98 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2017 

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