Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:36:38.266Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

56 - Late Quaternary Chronologies of the Northern Sinai/Northwestern Negev Dunefield and their Palaeoclimatic and Palaeoenvironmental Implications

from Part V: - Quaternary Geomorphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

By
Joel Roskin  and
Haim Tsoar
Edited by
Yehouda Enzel  and
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

The northwestern Negev dune field is densely dated With >230 luminescence and radiocarbon ages from calcic and sandy buried soils serving as dune substrates, sand sheets, vegetated linear dunes (VLDs), dune-bordering fluvial deposits; archaeological sites provide additional chronologic constraints. By reassessing the chronologies and detailed stratigraphic, structural and geomorphologic understandings, major episodes of aeolian activity and stability, and general sand transport rates are outlined. Late Pleistocene, late Holocene and modern time’s age clusters indicate that, at least in the Negev, they reliably recording main sand and dune mobilization intervals. Combining these clusters with late Quaternary records assists in generating the palaeoclimate framework for the southern Levant. Sand mobilizations also led to unique relations between prehistoric, historic and modern humans, and the aeolian and fluvial environment.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
 , pp. 505 - 520
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almog, R. & Yair, A. 2007. Negative and positive effects of topsoil biological crusts on water availability along a rainfall gradient in a sandy arid area. Catena 70: 437–42.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Enzel, Y., Crouvi, O. et al. 2011. The role of the Nile in initiating a massive dust influx to the Negev late in the middle Pleistocene. Geological Society of America Bulletin 123: 873–89.Google Scholar
Bartov, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M. & Enzel, Y. 2003. Catastrophic arid episodes in the eastern Mediterranean linked with the North Atlantic Heinrich events. Geology 31: 439–42.Google Scholar
Ben-David, R. 2003. Changes in Desert Margin Environments during the Climate Changes of the Upper Quaternary. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Blumberg, D.G., Neta, T., Margalit, N., Lazar, M. & Freilikher, V. 2004. Mapping exposed and buried drainage systems using remote sensing in the Negev Desert, Israel. Geomorphology 61: 239–50.Google Scholar
Bristow, C.S., Lancaster, N. & Duller, G.A.T. 2005. Combining ground penetrating radar surveys and optical dating to determine dune migration in Namibia. Journal of the Geological Society 162: 315–21.Google Scholar
Calvert, S.E. & Fontugne, M.R. 2001. On the Late Pleistocene–Holocene sapropel record of climatic and oceanographic variability in the eastern Mediterranean. Paleoceanography 16: 78–94.Google Scholar
Crouvi, O., Amit, R., Enzel, Y., Porat, N. & Sandler, A. 2008. Sand dunes as a major proximal dust source for Late Pleistocene loess in the Negev Desert, Israel. Quaternary Research 70: 275–82.Google Scholar
Danin, A., Bar-Or, Y., Dor, I. & Yisraeli, T. 1989. The role of cyanobacteria in stabilization of sand dunes in southern Israel. Ecologica Mediterranea 15: 55–64.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y. 1984. The Geomorphology of the Lower Nahal Sekher Wadi. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Dayan, U. et al. 2008. The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the Late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts. Global and Planetary Change 60: 165–9.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Crouvi, O. & Porat, N. 2010. Abrasion-derived sediments under intensified winds at the latest Pleistocene leading edge of the advancing Sinai–Negev erg. Quaternary Research 74: 121–31.Google Scholar
Fitzsimmons, K.E., Rhodes, E.J., Magee, J.W. & Barrows, T.T. 2007. The timing of linear dune activity in the Strzelecki and Tirari Deserts, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 2598–616.Google Scholar
Frihy, O.E. & Stanley, D.J. 1987. Texture and coarse fraction composition of Nile Delta deposits: Facies analysis and stratigraphic correlation. Journal of African Earth Sciences 71: 237–55.Google Scholar
Fryberger, S.G. 1979. Dune forms and wind regime. In A Study of Global Sand Seas, ed. McKee, E.D., USGS Professional Paper 1052. Washington, pp. 137–69.Google Scholar
Gladfelter, B.G. 2000. The geomorphic context of the Upper Paleolithic in Wadi Gayifa, northeastern Sinai. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie 44: 1–31.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. 1977. Late Quaternary stratigraphy of Gebel Maghara. In Prehistoric Investigations in Gebel Maghara, Northern Sinai, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Phillips, C.J., Qedem 7, Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, pp. 11–31.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. 1986. Late Quaternary environmental history of the southern Levant. Geoarchaeology 1: 225–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goring-Morris, A.N. & Goldberg, P. 1990. Late Quaternary dune incursions in the southern Levant: Archaeology, chronology and palaeoenvironments. Quaternary International 5: 115–37.Google Scholar
Greenbaum, N. & Ben-David, R. 2001. Geological – Geomorphological Mapping in the Shivta-Rogem Site Area Basic Data Report no. 3 for the Shivta-Rogem Site Investigation. Israel Electric Company.Google Scholar
Hamann, Y., Ehrmann, W., Schmiedl, G. et al. Sedimentation processes in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Late Glacial and Holocene revealed by end-member modeling of the terrigenous fraction in marine sediments. Marine Geology 258: 97–114.Google Scholar
Harrison, J.B.J. & Yair, A. 1998. Late Pleistocene aeolian and fluvial interactions in the development of the Nizzana dune field, Negev desert, Israel. Sedimentology 45: 507–18.Google Scholar
Hemming, S.R. 2004. Heinrich events: Massive late Pleistocene detritus layers of the North Atlantic and their global climate imprint. Reviews of Geophysics 42:1–43.Google Scholar
Hermas, E., Leprince, S. & El-Magd, I.A. 2012. Retrieving sand dune movements using sub-pixel correlation of multi-temporal optical remote sensing imagery, northwest Sinai peninsula, Egypt. Remote Sensing of Environment 121: 51–60.Google Scholar
Hesse, P. 2011. Sticky dunes in a wet desert: Formation, stabilisation and modification of the Australian desert dunefields. Geomorphology 134: 309–25.Google Scholar
Hesse, P.P. 2014. How do longitudinal dunes respond to climate forcing? Insights from 25 years of luminescence dating of the Australian desert dunefields. Quaternary International.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J. 2001. Runoff-induced sediment yield from dune slopes in the Negev Desert. 2: Texture, carbonate and organic matter. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 26: 583–99.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J. & Benenson, I. 2014. Biocrusts serve as biomarkers for the upper 30 cm soil water content. Journal of Hydrology 509: 398–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidron, G.J. & Tal, S.Y. 2012. The effect of biocrusts on evaporation from sand dunes in the Negev Desert. Geoderma 179–180: 104–12.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J. & Yair, A. 1997. Rainfall–runoff relationships over encrusted dune surfaces, Nizzana, western Negev, Israel. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 22: 1169–84.3.0.CO;2-C>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidron, G.J. & Yair, A. 2001. Runoff-induced sediment yield from dune slopes in the Negev Desert, 1: Quantity and variability. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 26: 461–74.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J., Barzilay, E. & Sachs, E. 2000. Microclimate control upon sand microbiotic crust, western Negev Desert, Israel. Geomorphology 36: 1–18.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J., Herrnstadt, I. & Barzilay, E. 2002. The role of dew as a moisture source for sand microbiotic crusts in the Negev Desert, Israel. Journal of Arid Environments 52: 517–33.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J., Yair, A., Vonshak, A. & Abeliovich, A. 2003. Microbiotic crust control of runoff generation on sand dunes in the Negev Desert. Water Resources Research 39: 1108.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J., Vonshak, A., Abeliovich, A. 2008. Recovery rates of micro-biotic crusts within a dune ecosystem in the Negev Desert. Geo-morphology 100: 444–52.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J., Voshak, A. & Abeliovich, A. 2009. Microbiotic crusts as biomarkers for surface stability and wetness duration in the Negev Desert. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 34: 1594–604.Google Scholar
Kidron, G.J., Vonshak, A., Dor, I., Barinova, S. & Abeliovich, A. 2010. Properties and spatial distribution of microbiotic crusts in the Negev Desert. Catena 82: 92–101.Google Scholar
Lancaster, N., Bristow, C., Bubenzer, O. et al. 2015. An introduction to the INQUA Dunes Atlas Chronologic Database. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts Vol. 17, p. 5558.Google Scholar
Lange, O.L., Kidron, G.J., Büdel, B. et al. 1992. Taxonomic composition and photosynthetic characteristics of the ‘biological soil crusts’ covering sand dunes in the western Negev Desert. Functional Ecology 6: 519–27.Google Scholar
Leighton, C.L., Thomas, D.S. & Bailey, R.M. 2013. Allostratigraphy and Quaternary dune sediments: Not all bounding surfaces are the same. Aeolian Research 11: 55–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lomax, J., Hilgers, A. & Radtke, U. 2011. Palaeoenvironmental change recorded in the palaeodunefields of the western Murray Basin, South Australia. New data from single grain OSL-dating. Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 723–36.Google Scholar
Magaritz, M. 1986. Environmental changes recorded in the Upper Pleistocene along the desert boundary, southern Israel. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 53: 213–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaritz, M. & Enzel, Y. 1990. Standing-water deposits as indicators of Late Quaternary dune migration in the northwestern Negev, Israel. Climatic Change 16: 307–18.Google Scholar
McGee, D., deMenocal, P.B., Winckler, G., Stuut, J.B.W. & Bradtmiller, L.I. 2013. The magnitude, timing and abruptness of changes in North African dust deposition over the last 20,000 yr. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 371: 163–76.Google Scholar
McFarlane, M.J., Eckardt, F.D., Ringrose, S., Coetzee, S.H. & Kuhn, J.R. 2005. Degradation of linear dunes in northwest Ngamiland, Botswana and the implications for luminescence dating of periods of aridity. Quaternary International 135: 83–90.Google Scholar
Mohamed, E.S. 2013. Spatial assessment of desertification in north Sinai using modified MEDLAUS model. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 6: 4647–59.Google Scholar
Moreno, A., Cacho, I., Canals, M. et al. 2002. Saharan dust transport and high latitude glacial climatic variability: The Alboren Sea record. Quaternary Research 58: 38–328.Google Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Roskin, J., Tsoar, T. et al. 2013. Origin of the Sinai–Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: Geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history. Quaternary Science Reviews 69: 28–48.Google Scholar
Mulitza, S., Heslop, D., Pittauerova, D. et al. 2010. Increase in African dust flux at the onset of commercial agriculture in the Sahel region. Nature 466: 226–8.Google Scholar
Munyikwa, K., Telfer, M.W., Baker, I. & Knight, C. 2011. Core drilling of Quaternary sediments for luminescence dating using the Dormer Drillmite. Ancient TL 29: 15–23.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S. & Wintle, A.G. 2000. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radial Meas-urements 32: 57–73.Google Scholar
Palchan, D., Stein, M., Almogi-Labin, A., Erel, Y. & Goldstein, S.L. 2013. Dust transport and synoptic conditions over the Sahara–Arabia deserts during the MIS 6/5 and 2/1 transitions from grain-size, chemical and isotopic properties of Red Sea cores. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 382: 125–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pye, K. & Tsoar, H. 1990. Aeolian Sand and Sand Dunes. Vol. 396. London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Rendell, H.M., Yair, A. & Tsoar, H. 1993. Thermoluminescence dating of sand movement in northern Negev, Israel. In The Dynamics and Environmental Context of Aeolian Sedimentary Systems, ed. Pye, K.. London: Geological Society, pp. 69–74.Google Scholar
Revel, M., Ducassou, E., Grousset, F. E. et al. 2010. 100,000 years of African monsoon variability recorded in sediments of the Nile margin. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 1342–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roskin, J., Porat, N., Tsoar, H., Blumberg, D.G. & Zander, A.M. 2011a. Age, origin and climatic controls on vegetated linear dunes (VLDs) in the northwestern Negev desert (Israel). Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 1649–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roskin, J., Tsoar, H., Porat, N. & Blumberg, D.G. 2011b. Late Pleistocene regional and global palaeoclimate of dune mobilization and stabil-ization; evidence from the vegetated linear dunes of the northwestern Negev Desert, Israel. Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 3364–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roskin, J., Rozenstein, O., Blumberg, D.G., Tsoar, H. & Porat, N. 2012. Do dune sands redden with age? The case of the northwestern Negev dunefield, Israel. Aeolian Research 5: 63–75.Google Scholar
Roskin, J., Katra, I., Porat, N. & Zilberman, E. 2013a. Evolution of Middle to Late Pleistocene sandy calcareous palaeosols underlying the northwestern Negev Desert Dunefield (Israel). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 387: 134–52.Google Scholar
Roskin, J., Katra, I. & Blumberg, D.G. 2013b. Late Holocene dune mobil-izations in the northwestern Negev dunefield, Israel: A response to combined anthropogenic activity and short-term intensified windiness. Quaternary International 303: 10–23.Google Scholar
Roskin, J., Katra, I. & Blumberg, D.G. 2014a. Particle-size fractionation of eolian sand along the Sinai–Negev erg of Egypt and Israel. Geo-logical Society of America Bulletin 126: 47–65.Google Scholar
Roskin, J., Katra, I., Agha, N. et al. 2014b. Rapid anthropogenic response to short-term local aeolian and fluvial palaeoenvironmental changes during the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Quaternary Science Reviews 99: 176–92.Google Scholar
Roskin, J., Blumberg, D.G. & Katra, I. 2014c. Last millennium development and dynamics of vegetated linear dunes inferred from ground penetrating radar and optically stimulated luminescence ages. Sedimentology 61: 1240–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharon, D., Margalit, A. & Berkowicz, S.M. 2002. Locally modified surface winds on linear dunes as derived from directional rain gauges. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 27: 867–89.Google Scholar
Siegal, Z., Tsoar, H. & Karnieli, A. 2013. The effect of a prolonged drought on vegetation density on sand dunes of the northwestern Negev Desert – field survey and conceptual modeling. Aeolian Research 9: 161–73.Google Scholar
Suter-Burri, K., Gromke, C., Leonard, K.C. & Graf, F. 2013. Spatial patterns of aeolian sediment deposition in vegetation canopies: Observations from wind tunnel experiments using colored sand. Aeolian Research 8: 65–73.Google Scholar
Stanley, D.J. & Warne, A.G. 1993. Nile Delta: Recent geological evolution and human impact. Science 260: 628–34.Google Scholar
Stanley, D.J., McRea Jr., J.E. & Waldron, J.C. 1996. Nile Delta Drill Core and Sample Database for 1985–1994: Mediterranean Basin (MEDIBA) Program. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Stein, M., Torfstein, A., Gavrieli, I. & Yechieli, Y. 2010. Abrupt aridities and salt deposition in the post-glacial Dead Sea and their North Atlantic connection. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 567–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Telfer, M.W. 2014. Luminescence, desert dunes. In Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods, ed. Rink, W.J. & Thompson, J.W. Springer Netherlands.Google Scholar
Telfer, M.W. & Hesse, P.P. 2013. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from linear dunefields: Recent progress, current challenges and future directions. Quaternary Science Reviews 78: 1–21.Google Scholar
Thomas, D.S. ed., 2011. Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands. John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torfstein, A., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M. & Enzel, Y. 2013. Impacts of abrupt climate changes in the Levant from Last Glacial Dead Sea levels. Quaternary Science Reviews 69: 1–7.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H. 1989. Linear dunes – forms and formation. Progress in Physical Geography 13: 507–28.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H. 1995. Desertification in northern Sinai in the eighteenth century. Climatic Change 29: 429–38.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H. 2008. Land use and its effect on the mobilization and stabilization of the northwestern Negev sand dunes. In Arid Dune Ecosystems, ed. Breckle, S.W., Yair, A. & Veste, M.. Berlin: Springer, pp. 79–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsoar, H. 2013. Critical environments: Sand dunes and climate change. In Treatise on Geomorphology, ed. Shroder, J., Lancaster, N., Sherman, D.J. & Baas, A.C.W., Aeolian Geomorphology 11. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 414–27.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H. & Goodfriend, A.G. 1994. Chronology and palaeoenvironment interpretation of Holocene aeolian sands at the inland edge of the Sinai–Negev erg. The Holocene 4: 244–50.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H. & Møller, J.T. 1986. The role of vegetation in the formation of linear sand dunes. In Aeolian Geomorphology, ed. Nickling, W.G.. Boston: Allen & Unwin, pp. 75–95.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H., Blumberg, D.G. & Stoler, Y. 2004. Elongation and migration of sand dunes. Geomorphology 57: 293–302.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H., Blumberg, D.G. & Wenkart, R. 2008. Formation and geomorphology of the northwestern Negev sand dunes. In Arid Dune Ecosystems – The Nizzana Sands in the Negev Desert, ed. Breckle, S.W., Yair, A. & Veste, M.. Berlin: Springer, pp. 25–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vidal, L., Schneider, R.R., Marchal, O. et al. 1999. Link between the North and South Atlantic during the Heinrich events of the last glacial period. Climate Dynamics 15: 909–19.Google Scholar
Yaalon, D.H. & Dan, J. 1974. Accumulation and distribution of loess-derived deposits in the semi-desert fringe areas of Israel. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie N.F., Supplementbände 20: 91–105.Google Scholar
Yizhaq, H., Ashkenazy, Y. & Tsoar, H. 2007. Why do active and stabilized dunes coexist under the same climatic conditions? Physical Review Letters 98: 188011–14.Google Scholar
Yu, L. & Lai, Z. 2014. Holocene climate change inferred from stratigraphy and OSL chronology of aeolian sediments in the Qaidam Basin, northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary Research 81: 488–99.Google Scholar
Yu, L., Dong, Z., Lai, Z., Qian, G. & Pan, T. 2014a. Origin and lateral migration of linear dunes in the Qaidam Basin of northwestern China revealed by dune sediments, internal structures, and optically stimulated luminescence ages, with implications for linear dunes on Titan: Comment and discussion. Geological Society of America Bulletin B31041.1.Google Scholar
Yu, L., Dong, Z., Lai, Z. & Qian, G. 2014b. Using luminescence dating to reveal the origin and depositional processes of young linear dunes in the Qaidam Basin, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. ICAR-8 meeting, Lanzhou, China, poster abstract.Google Scholar
Zilberman, E. 1991. Landscape evolution in the central, northern and northwestern Negev during the Neogene and the Quaternary. Geological Survey of Israel Report GSI/45/90 [Hebrew, English abstract].Google Scholar
Zilberman, E. 1993. The Late Pleistocene sequence of the northwestern Negev flood plains – a key to reconstructing the paleoclimate of southern Israel in the last glacial. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 41: 155–67.Google Scholar
Zilberman, E., Porat, N. & Roskin, J. 2007. The Middle to Late-Pleistocene sand sheet sequence of Kerem Shalom, western Negev – an archive of coastal sand incursion. Geological Survey of Israel Report GSI/13/2007.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×