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The Feasibility of Using Melanopsis Shells as Radiocarbon Chronometers, Lake Kinneret, Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Lilach Lev ,
Elisabetta Boaretto ,
Joseph Heller ,
Shmuel Marco  and
Mordechai Stein
Lilach Lev
Affiliation:
Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhei Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel
Elisabetta Boaretto*
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Joseph Heller
Affiliation:
Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Shmuel Marco
Affiliation:
Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
Mordechai Stein
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhei Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel
*
Corresponding author. Email: Elisabetta.Boaretto@weizmann.ac.il
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Abstract

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We investigated the feasibility of using Melanopsis shells as radiocarbon chronometers of paleolakes and springs in the Jordan Valley, Israel. For this purpose, we analyzed the 14C content of aragonite of living Melanopsis shells from different freshwater bodies of the northern Jordan Valley and Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and compared them to the contemporaneous water values. The Melanopsis shells are in 14C equilibrium with their habitat waters, allowing to specify a particular reservoir age for various water types. We measured ∼750 yr for Lake Kinneret, ∼2300 yr for northern Jordan, ∼4600 yr for springs in the north Kinneret, and ∼7200 yr for streams flowing directly from carbonate aquifers. These results were tested and corroborated by analyzing fossil Melanopsis shells of known age, measured on contemporaneous organic matter. We conclude that Melanopsis shells are reliable 14C chronometers and have the potential to be used as paleohydrological tracers.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 1003 - 1015
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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