Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:17:00.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of rare rainstorms in the formation of calcic soil horizons on alluvial surfaces in extreme deserts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rivka Amit ,
Yehouda Enzel ,
Tamir Grodek ,
Onn Crouvi ,
Naomi Porat  and
Avner Ayalon
Rivka Amit*
Affiliation:
The Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel
Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Tamir Grodek
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
Onn Crouvi
Affiliation:
The Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Naomi Porat
Affiliation:
The Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel
Avner Ayalon
Affiliation:
The Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem, 95501, Israel
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R. Amit), [email protected] (Y. Enzel), [email protected] (T. Grodek), [email protected] (O. Crouvi), [email protected] (N. Porat), [email protected] (A. Ayalon).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Soils in similar geomorphic settings in hyperarid deserts (< 50 mm yr−1) should have similar characteristics because a negative moisture balance controls their development. However, Reg soils in the hyperarid southern Negev and Namib deserts are distinctly different. Soils developed on stable alluvial surfaces with only direct input of rainfall and dust depend heavily on rainfall characteristics. Annual rainfall amount can be similar (15–30 mm), but storm duration can drastically alter Reg soil properties in deserts. The cooler fall/winter and dry hot summers of the southern Negev Desert with a predominance brief (≤ 1 day) rainstorms result in gypsic-saline soils without any calcic soil horizon. Although the Namib Desert receives only 50–60% of the southern Negev annual rainfall, its rainstorm duration is commonly 2–4 days. This improves leaching of the top soil under even lower annual rainfall amount and results in weeks-long grass cover. The long-term cumulative effect of these rare rain-grass relationships produces a calcic-gypsic-saline soil. The development of these different kinds of desert soils highlights the importance of daily to seasonal rainfall characteristics in influencing soil-moisture regime in deserts, and has important implications for the use of key desert soil properties as proxies in paleoclimatology.

Keywords

Namib DesertNegev DesertCalcic soilsGypsic-salic soilsCarbonate nodulesOxygen and carbon isotopesRainfall characteristics
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , September 2010 , pp. 177 - 187
Copyright
University of Washington

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

Alpert, P., Neeman, B.U., and Shay-El, Y. Climatological analysis of the Mediterranean cyclones using ECMWF data. Tellus 42A, (1990). 65–77.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Enzel, Y., and Sharon, D. Permanent Quaternary hyperaridity in the Negev, Israel, resulting from regional tectonics blocking Mediterranean frontal systems. Geology 34, (2006). 509–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amit, R., and Gerson, R. The evolution of Holocene Reg (gravelly) soils in deserts—an example from the Dead Sea region. Catena 13, (1986). 59–79.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Gerson, R., and Yaalon, D.H. Stages and rate of the gravel shattering process by salts in desert Reg soils. Geoderma 57, (1993). 295–324.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Lekach, J., Ayalon, A., Porat, N., and Grodek, T. New insight into pedogenic processes in extremely arid environments and their paleoclimatic implications—the Negev Desert, Israel. Quat. Int. 162–163, (2007). 61–75.Google Scholar
Amit, R., and Yaalon, D.H. Micromorphology of gypsum and halite in Reg soils—The Negev Desert, Israel. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 21, (1996). 1127–1143.Google Scholar
Amundson, R. Soil formation. Drever, J.I. Treatise on Geochemistry. Surface and Ground Water Weathering and Soils vol. 5, (2004). Elsevier, 626 pp.Google Scholar
Amundson, R.G., Chadwick, O.A., and Sowers, J.M. A comparison of soil climate and biological activity along an elevation gradient in the eastern Mojave Desert. Oecologia 80, (1989). 395–400.Google Scholar
Amundson, R.G., Chadwick, O.A., Sowers, J.M., and Doner, H.E. The relationship between modern climate and vegetation and the stable isotope chemistry of Mojave Desert soils. Quat. Res. 29, (1988). 245–254.Google Scholar
Ashbel, D., Eviatar, A., Doron, E., Ganor, E., and Agmon, V. Soil temperature in different latitudes and different climates. (1965). The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 150 pp.Google Scholar
Atlas of Israel Survey of Israel. third ed. (1985). Tel Aviv, Google Scholar
Bao, H., Thiemens, M.H., and Heine, K. Oxygen-17 excesses of the central Namib gypcretes: spatial distribution. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 192, (2001). 125–135.Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. Soils and geomorphology. (1999). Oxford University Press, 372 pp.Google Scholar
Breecker, D.O., Sharp, Z.D., and McFadden, L.D. Seasonality bias in the formation and stable isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate in modern soils from central New Mexico, USA. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 121, (2009). 630–640.Google Scholar
Brimhall, G.H., Chadwick, O.A., Lewis, C.J., Compston, W., Williams, I.S., Danti, K.J., Dietrich, W.E., Power, M.W., Hendricks, D., and Bratt, J. Deformational mass transport and invasive processes in soil evolution. Science 255, (1992). 695–702.Google Scholar
Brook, G.A., Folkoff, M.E., and Box, E.O. A world model for soil carbon dioxide. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 8, (1987). 78–88.Google Scholar
Brook, G.A., Marais, E., and Cowart, J.B. Evidence of wetter and drier conditions in Namibia from tufas and submerged cave speleothems. Cimbebasia 15, (1999). 29–39.Google Scholar
Brook, G.A., Marias, E., Srivastava, P., and Jordan, T. Timing of lake level changes in Etosha Pan, Namibia, since the middle Holocene from OSL ages of relict shorelines in the Okondeka region. Quat. Int. 175, (2007). 29–40.Google Scholar
Capo, R.C., and Chadwick, O.A. Sources of strontium and calcium in desert soil and calcrete. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 170, (1999). 61–72.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E. The stable isotopic composition of modern soil carbonate and its relation to climate. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 71, (1984). 229–240.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E., and Quade, J. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in soil carbonates. Swart, P.K., Lohmann, K.C., McKenzie, J., and Savin, S. Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records. Geophysical Monograph vol. 78, (1993). 217–231.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E., Quade, J., Wang, Y., and Bowman, J. Soil and paleosols as ecologic and paleoecologic undicators. Nature 341, (1989). 138–139.Google Scholar
Chase, B.M., and Meadows, M.E. Late Quaternary dynamics of southern Africa's winter rainfall zone. Earth Sci. Rev. 84, (2007). 103–138.Google Scholar
Dan, J., Raz, Z., Koyumdjisky, H., (1964). Soil Survey manual. Division of Scientific Publication, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel., 67 pp.Google Scholar
Dan, J., and Yaalon, D.H. Automorphic saline soils in Israel. Catena Supplement 1 (1982). 103–115.Google Scholar
Dan, J., Yaalon, D.H., Moshe, R., and Nissim, S. Evolution of Reg soils in southern Israel and Sinai. Geoderma 28, (1982). 173–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drever, J.I. The Geochemistry of Natural Waters. (1982). NY Prentice Hall, 436 pp.Google Scholar
Deacon, J., and Lancaster, N. Late Quaternary Environments of South Africa. (1988). Oxford University Press, Oxford. 220 pp.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Dayan, U., Crouvi, O., Kahana, R., Ziv, B., and Sharon, D. The Climatic and Physiographic Controls of the Eastern Mediterranean over the Late Pleistocene Climates in the Southern Levant and its Neighboring Deserts. Global Planet. Change 60, (2008). 165–192.Google Scholar
Ewing, S.A., Sutter, B., Owen, J., Nishiizumi, K., Sharp, W., Cliff, S.S., Perry, K., Dietrich, W., McKay, C.P., and Amundson, R. A threshold in soil formation at Earth's arid—hyperarid transition. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70, (2006). 5293–5322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galbraith, R.F., Roberts, R.G., Laslett, G.M., Yoshida, H., and Olley, J.M. Optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz from Jinmium rock shelter, northern Australia: Part I. Experimental design and statistical models. Archaeometry 41, (1999). 339–364.Google Scholar
Gerson, R., and Amit, R. Rates and modes of dust accretion and deposition in an arid region—the Negev, Israel. Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. 35, (1987). 157–169.Google Scholar
Gerson, R., Amit, R., Grossman, S., (1985). Dust availability in desert terrains – a study in the deserts of Israel and the Sinai. US Armey Research, Development and Standardization Group, UK. contract no. DAJA 45-83-C-0041. Institute of Earth Sciences, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Israel., 194 pp.Google Scholar
Gile, L.H. Holocene soils and soil-geomorphic relations in an arid region of southern New Mexico. Quat. Res. 5, (1975). 321–360.Google Scholar
Gile, L.H., Hawley, J.W., Grossman, R.B., (1981). Soils and Geomorphology in the Basin and Range, Southern New Mexico. Guidebook to the Desert Project: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir 39, 222 pp.Google Scholar
Goodfriend, G., and Magaritz, M. Paleosols and late Pleistocene rainfall fluctuations in the Negev desert. Nature 332, (1988). 144–146.Google Scholar
Grodek, T., Lekach, , and Schick, A. Urbanizing alluvial fans as flood-conveying and flood reducing systems: lessons from the October 1997 Eilat Flood. Hassan, M.A., Slaymaker, O., and Berkowicz, S.M. The hydrology—geomorphology interface: rainfall, floods, sedimentation, land use. IAHS International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication vol. 261, (1999). 229–250.Google Scholar
Harden, J.W., Taylor, E.M., Reheis, M.C., and McFadden, L.D. Calcic, gypsic, and siliceous soil chronosequences in arid and semi-arid environments. Nettleton, W.D. Occurrence, characteristics and genesis of carbonate, gypsum and silica accumulations in soils. Soil Science Society of America Special publication vol. 26, (1991). 1–17.Google Scholar
Heine, K. Late Quaternary climatic change in the central Namib Desert, Namibia. Alsharan, A.S., Glennie, K.W., Whinttle, G.L., and Kendall, C.G.S.C. Quaternary Deserts and Climate Change. (1998). Rotterdam/Brookfield, Balkema. 293–304.Google Scholar
Henschel, J.R., Burke, A., and Seely, M. Temporal and spatial variability of grass productivity in the central Namib Desert. Afr. Study Monogr. Suppl. 30, (2005). 43–56.Google Scholar
Kahana, R., Ziv, B., Enzel, Y., and Dayan, U. Synoptic climatology and major floods in the Negev desert, Israel. Int. J. Climatol. 22, (2002). 867–882.Google Scholar
Klinger, R. E., (2001). Quaternary Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of Northern Death Valley. Implications for Tectonic Activity on the Northern Death Valley Fault, . PhD dissertation, 312 pp.Google Scholar
Ku, T.L., Luo, S., Lowenstein, T.K., Li, J., and Spencer, R.J. U-Series chronology of lacustrine deposits in Death Valley, California. Quat. Res. 50, (1998). 261–275.Google Scholar
Lancaster, N. Paleoenvironments in the Tsondab Vally, central Namib Desert. Paleoecol. Afr. 16, (1984). 411–420.Google Scholar
Lancaster, N. How dry was dry?—Late Pleistocene paleoclimates in the Namib Desert. Quat. Sci. Rev. 21, (2002). 769–782.Google Scholar
Lekach, J., Amit, R., Grodek, T., and Schick, A.P. Fluvio-pedogenic processes in an ephemeral stream channel, Nahal Yael, southern Negev Israel. Geomorphology 23, (1998). 353–369.Google Scholar
Little, M.G., Schneider, R.R., Kroon, D., Price, B., Summerayes, C.P., and Segal, M. Trade wind forcing of upwelling, seasonality, and Heinrich events as a response to sub-Milankovitch climate variability. Paleooceanography 12, (1997). 568–576.Google Scholar
Liu, B., Phillips, F.M., and Campbell, A.R. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of pedogenic carbonates, Ajo Mountains, southern Arizona: Implications for paleoenvironmental change. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 124, (1996). 233–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovegrove, B. The Living Deserts of Southern Africa. (1993). Fernwood Press, Vlaeberg. 224 pp.Google Scholar
Lowenstein, T.K., Li, J., and Brown, C.B. Paleotemperatures from fluid inclusions in halite: method verification and a 100, 000 year paleotemperature record, Death Valley, CA. Chem. Geol. 150, (1998). 223–245.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N. Calcic soils of the American Southwest. Weide, D.L. Soils and Quaternary Geology of the Southwestern US. Geological Society of America Special Paper vol. 203, (1985). 1–22.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., Johnson, M.L., Slate, J.L., (2001). Quaternary and Late Pliocene Geology of the Death Valley Region: Recent Observation on Tectonics, Stratigraphy, and Lake Cycles. (Guidebook for the 2001 Pacific Cell-Friends of the Pleistocene Fieldtrip) United States Geological Survey Open File Report 01-51, 246 pp.Google Scholar
Magaritz, M. Environmental changes recorded in the upper Pleistocene along the desert boundary, southern Israel. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 53, (1986). 213–229.Google Scholar
Magaritz, M., and Heller, J. A desert migration indicator—oxygen isotopic composition of land snail shells. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 32, (1980). 153–162.Google Scholar
Magaritz, M., Kaufman, A., and Yaalon, D.H. Calcium carbonate nodules in soils: 18O/16O and 13C/12C ratios and 14C contents. Geoderma 25, (1981). 157–172.Google Scholar
Magaritz, M., Rahner, S., Yechieli, Y., and Krishnamurthy, R.V. 13C/12C ratio in organic matter from the Dead Sea area: pleoclimatic interpretation. Naturwissenschaften 78, (1991). 453–455.Google Scholar
Matmon, A., Simhai, O., Amit, R., Haviv, I., Porat, N., McDonald, E., Benedetti, L., and Finkel, R. Desert pavement-coated surfaces in extreme deserts present the longest-lived landforms on Earth. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 121, (2009). 688–697.Google Scholar
McDonald, E.V., Pierson, F.B., Flerchinger, G.A., and McFadden, L.D. Application of a soil-water balance model to evaluate the influence of Holocene climate change on calcic soils, Mojave Desert, California, USA. Geoderma 74, (1996). 167–192.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., Amundson, R.G., and Chadwick, O.A. Numerical modeling, chemical and isotopic studies of carbonate accumulation in soils of arid regions. Nettleton, W.D. Occurrence, Characteristics and Genesis of Carbonate, Gypsum and Silica Accumulations in Soils. Soil Science Society of America Special publication vol. 26, (1991). 17–35.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., and Tinsely, J.C. Rate and depth of pedogenic-carbonate accumulation in soils: Formation and testing of a compartment model. Weide, D.L. Soils and Quaternary Geology of the Southwestern US. Geological Society of America Special Paper vol. 203, (1985). 23–41.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., Wells, S.G., Brown, W.J., and Enzel, Y. Soil genesis on beach ridges of pluvial Lake Mojave: implications for Holocene lacustrine and eolian events in the Mojave Desert, southern California. Catena 19, (1992). 77–97.Google Scholar
McFadden, L.D., Wells, S.G., and Jercinovic, M.J. Influences of eolian and pedogenic processes on the origin and evolution of desert pavements. Geology 15, (1987). 504–508.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, J., Jarvis, A., Roberts, C., Robertson, T., (2002). Atlas of Namibia. Published for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism by David Philip, David Philips Publishers, New Africa Books Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa., 200 pp.Google Scholar
Morin, J., Sharon, D., Rubin, S., (1998). Rainfall intensity in Israel. (English and Hebrew) Hebrew University and Israel Meteorological Service, Bet Dagan. 162 p Map 6, p. 148.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., and Wintel, A.G. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiat. Meas. 32, (2000). 57–73.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. The nature of rainfall variability over Africa on time scales of decades to millennia. Global Planet. Change 26, (2000). 137–158.Google Scholar
O'Connor, P.W., and Thomas, D.S.G. The timing and environmental significance of late Quaternary linear dune development in western Zambia. Quat. Res. 52, (1999). 44–55.Google Scholar
O'Neil, J.R., Clayton, R.N., and Mayeda, T.K. Oxygen isotope fractionation of divalent metal carbonates. J. Chem. Phys. 30, (1969). 5547–5558.Google Scholar
Porat, N. Use of magnetic separation for purifying quartz for luminescence dating. Ancient TL 24, (2006). 33–36.Google Scholar
Porat, N. Analytical procedures in the luminescence dating laboratory (in Hebrew), TR-GSI/2/2002. (2007). Geological Society of Israel, Jerusalem. 33 Google Scholar
Porat, N., Amit, R., Enzel, Y., Zilberman, E., Avni, Y., Ginat, H., and Gluk, D. Abandonment ages of alluvial landforms in the hyperarid Negev determined by luminescence dating. J. Arid Environ. 74, (2010). 861–869.Google Scholar
Quade, J., Cerling, T.E., and Bowman, J.R. Systematic variations in the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate along elevation transects in the southern Great Basin, United States. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 101, (1989). 464–475.Google Scholar
Quade, J., Chivas, A.R., and McCulloch, M.T. Strontium and carbon isotope tracers and the origins of soil carbonate in South Australia and Victoria. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 113, (1995). 103–117.Google Scholar
Quade, J., Rech, J.A., Latorre, C., Betancourt, J.L., Gleeson, E., and Kalin, M.T.K. Soils at the hyperarid margin: the isotopic composition of soil carbonate from the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 71, (2007). 3772–3795.Google Scholar
Reheis, M.C., Harden, J.W., McFadden, L.D., and Shroba, R.R. Development rates of late Quaternary soils, Silver Lake playa, California. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 53, (1989). 1127–1140.Google Scholar
Scott, L., Cooremans, B., de Wet, J.S., and Vogel, J.C. Holocene environmental changes in Namibia inferred from pollen analysis of swamp and lake deposits. Holocene 1, (1991). 8–13.Google Scholar
Sharon, D. Spottiness of rainfall in a desert area. J. Hydrol. 17, (1972). 161–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharon, D., and Kutiel, H. The distribution of rainfall intensity in Israel, its regional and seasonal variations and its climatological evaluation. J. Climatol. 6, (1986). 277–291.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff Soil Taxonomy: Soil Conservation Service. USDA Agriculture Handbook. (1999). 436 754 pp.Google Scholar
Solomon, D.K., and Cerling, T.E. The annual carbon-dioxid cycle in a montane soil—observations, modeling and implications for weathering. Water Resour. Res. 23, (1987). 2257–2265.Google Scholar
Stokes, S., Haynes, G., Thomas, D.S.G., Higginson, M., and Malifa, M. Punctuated aridity in southern Africa during the last glacial cycle: the chronology of linear dune construction in the north-eastern Kalahari. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 137, (1998). 305–322.Google Scholar
Stone, A.E.C., Thomas, D.S.G., and Viles, H.A. Late Quaternary paleohydrological changes in the northern Namib Sand Sea and water-lain interdune deposits. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 288, (2010). 35–53.Google Scholar
Stuut, J.-B.W., and Lamy, F. Climate variability at the southern boundaries of the Namib (southwestern Africa) and Atacama (northern Chile) coastal deserts during the last 120, 000 yr. Quat. Res. 62, (2004). 301–309.Google Scholar
Thomas, D.S.G. Dune activity as a record of late Quaternary aridity in the northern Kalahari interpreted in the context of regional arid and humid chronologies. Paleogeogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 156, (2000). 243–259.Google Scholar
Tyson, P.D. Climatic Changes and Variability in Southern Africa. (1986). Oxford University Press, Oxford. 220 pp.Google Scholar
Vogel, J.C. Evidence of past climatic change in the Namib Desert. Paleogeaogr. Paleoclimatol. Paleoecol. 70, (1989). 355–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, S.G., McFadden, L.D., and Dohrenwend, J.C. Influence of late Quaternary climatic changes on geomorphic and pedogenic processes on a desert piedmont, eastern Mojave Desert, California. Quat. Res. 27, (1987). 130–146.Google Scholar
Wright, V.P., and Tucker, M.E. Calcretes. The international association of Sedimentologists. (1991). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. 352 pp.Google Scholar
Yaalon, D.H. Downward movement and distribution of anions in soil profiles with limited wetting. Hallsworth, E.G., and Crawford, D.V. Experimental Pedology, Proceedings of the Eleventh Easter School in Agricultural Science, University of Nottingham. (1964). Butterworths, London. 157–164.Google Scholar
Yaalon, D.H. Soil forming processes in time and space. Yaalon, D.H. et al. Paleopedology: Origin, Nature and Dating of Paleosols. (1971). International Society of Soil Science and Israel Universities Press, Jerusalem, Israel. 29–39.Google Scholar
Yair, A., and Berkowicz, S.M. Climatic and non climatic controls of aridity: the case of northern Negev of Israel. Catena Supplement 14 (1989). 145–158.Google Scholar
Yang, W., Lowenstien, T.K., Krouse, H.R., Spencer, R.J., and Ku, T.L. A 200, 000-year δ18O record of closed basin lacustrine calcite, Death Valley, California. Chem. Geol. 216, (2005). 99–111.Google Scholar