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10 - The Amora Formation, 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 sedimentary deposits of Lake Amora (the Amora Formation) comprise one of the longest lacustrine records of the Quaternary. The Amora Formation is defined as the sequence of lacustrine sediments deposited in the Dead Sea basin between the disconnection of the Sedom Lagoon from the open ocean at ~3 Ma and the rise of Lake Lisan, ~70 ka. It consists of sequences of laminated primary aragonite and silty-detritus, Ca-sulfate minerals, halite, sands and other clastic units. The longest exposed stratigraphic interval of the Amora Fm. is located on the eastern flanks of Mt. Sedom (the Arubotaim Cave section), where the sediments were uplifted and tilted by the rising Sedom salt diapir, exposing a ~320 m thick section, which represents seven glacial-interglacial cycles (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 18-5), between ~740 and 70 ka. Here, the chronology, lithology and limnological history of Lake Amora are described and discussed in the context of regional and global climate trends.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 91 - 98
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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