Palaeogeography and Palaeohydrology of Fluvial Systems in the Levant, Southeastern Mediterranean

doi:10.1017/9781316106754.047

47 - Palaeogeography and Palaeohydrology of Fluvial Systems in the Levant, Southeastern Mediterranean

from Part V: - Quaternary Geomorphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2017

Noam Greenbaum and

Ezra Zilberman

Edited by

Yehouda Enzel and

Ofer Bar-Yosef

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Yehouda Enzel: Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef: Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts

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Summary

Since the Oligocene, fluvial systems of the southeastern Levant responded to: (1) The uplift of the Arabian plate. (2) The formation of the Dead Sea rift (DSR) and the establishment of the regional water divides. (3) Sea level fluctuations - the base level for the western drainage systems. (4) Climate changes. (5) Late Quaternary intrusion of sand and loess in the Northern- and central Negev. The present regional water divide is modified by capturing the upper drainage basins of the west-flowing systems by the steep fluvial systems eastward. The intensive loess deposition during the last glacial and the thick alluvial fill that accumulated in most of the drainage systems, especially in southern Israel, are incised and removed from the valleys by floods. Sand incursion during late Pleistocene and early Holocene blocked active streams, formed coastal wetlands and diverted coastal stream courses. The coastal streams are perennial with low-magnitude, large-volume floods, whereas the ephemeral streams of the Judea and Negev deserts have high-magnitude, low-volume floods. The majority of the annual discharge into the Jordan Valley from the east is contributed by base flows.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 401 - 416

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316106754.047 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2017

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