Advances in Karst Research: Theory, Fieldwork and Applications
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Karst landscapes and karst aquifers are composed of a variety of soluble rocks, such as salt, gypsum, anhydrite, limestone, dolomite and quartzite. They are fascinating areas of exploration, study and research. As karst rocks are abundant on the Earth’s surface, the fast evolution of karst landscapes and the rapid flow of water through karst aquifers present many challenges from a number of different perspectives. This collection of 25 papers deals with different aspects of these challenges, including karst geology, geomorphology and speleogenesis, karst hydrogeology, karst modelling, and karst hazards and management. Together these papers provide a state-of-the-art review of the current challenges and solutions we face in describing karst from a scientific perspective, while at the same time providing useful data and information for managing karst territories to land planners, developers, and managers of show caves, natural parks and reserves in karst terrains.
Pliocene–Pleistocene palaeoclimate reconstruction from Ashalim Cave speleothems, Negev Desert, Israel
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Published:January 01, 2018
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CiteCitation
Anton Vaks, Miryam Bar-Matthews, Avner Ayalon, Alan Matthews, Amos Frumkin, 2018. "Pliocene–Pleistocene palaeoclimate reconstruction from Ashalim Cave speleothems, Negev Desert, Israel", Advances in Karst Research: Theory, Fieldwork and Applications, M. Parise, F. Gabrovsek, G. Kaufmann, N. Ravbar
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Abstract
Speleothems from Ashalim Cave, located in the arid central Negev Desert, Israel, were used in a reconstruction of the palaeoclimate of the northern Saharan–Arabian desert margin. The sequence of speleothems is composed of three stratigraphic members: the yellow Pliocene Basal Member, the brown Early Pleistocene Intermediate Member and the thin Middle–Late Pleistocene Young Member. The age of the Basal Member is c. 3.1 Ma and the base of the Intermediate Member is 1.272 ± 0.018 Ma. Two last deposition periods of the Young Member occurred at 221–190 ka (Negev Humid Period (NHP) 2) and 134–114 ka (NHP-1), associated with...
- absolute age
- Africa
- alkaline earth metals
- Asia
- C-13/C-12
- carbon
- Cenozoic
- dates
- interglacial environment
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- Israel
- metals
- Middle East
- monsoons
- Negev
- Neogene
- O-18
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- paleoclimatology
- Pleistocene
- Pliocene
- Quaternary
- reconstruction
- Sahara
- solution features
- speleothems
- Sr-87/Sr-86
- stable isotopes
- strontium
- Tertiary
- Th/U
- Ashalim Cave