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Age and Paleoclimatic Implications of the Bet Shean Travertines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. Kronfeld
Affiliation:
Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Raymond and Bererly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, POB 39040 Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel
J. C. Vogel
Affiliation:
Natural Isotope Division, CSIR, POB 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
E. Rosenthal
Affiliation:
Hydrological Service, Research Division, POB 6381, Jerusalem 91063, Israel
M. Weinstein-Evron
Affiliation:
Prehistory Laboratory, Department of Land of Israel Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 31999, Israel

Abstract

From 41,000 to over 22,000 yr B.P., a massive and areally extensive spring travertine was deposited in the Bet Shean Valley, Israel. This travertine is coeval with the Ami'az Member of the Lisan Formation which represents a high lake stand. The travertine deposition is contemporaneous with a more active hydrologic regime associated with wetter conditions in the arid zones of the southern Levant adjacent to southern Israel. These wetter conditions facilitated formation of a widespread spring tufa and also enhanced the water levels of Lake Lisan.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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