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9 - Sedimentology of the Lacustrine Formations in the Dead Sea Basin

from Part II: - Palaeoclimates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

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

The facies of the Dead Sea lacustrine sediments and their respective depositional environments are documented. Three main depositional environments are: a) on-shore sub-aerial environment shaped by fluvial/erosional processes, b) the littoral/marginal environments controlled by lake-level fluctuations, and c) the deeper lacustrine environment wity very fine- to fine-grain, carbonate-rich, mud-supported sediments, triggered by the water-body. Within the deep lacustrine environment, several sedimentary facies are identified (a) the marl facies, including the alternating aragonite and silty detritus (aad facies), alternating gypsum and detritus (gd facies), and laminated detritus (ld facies). (b) The halite facies (including well-bedded (lh facies), homogenous halite (hh facies), and alternating halite and detritus layers (hd facies). The entire lacustrine sequence is occasionally interfered by event layers such as intraclast breccia (mix facies), brecciated halite layers, and mass-transport deposits. These event layers formed in part because of slope failure in relation to extreme storm or seismicity.
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Chapter
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Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 83 - 90
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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