top of page
עמק החולה.jpg
< Back

Sediment Provenance and Late Quaternary Activity of the Levant Submarine Channel, Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Sivan L. (1,2), Torfstein A. (2,3), Hyams-Kaphzan O. (1), Kanari M. (4), Kitin M. (1), Katz O. (1)

(1) Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yesha'ayahu Leibowitz, Jerusalem 9692100, Israel

(2) The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

(3) Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, Eilat 88103, Israel

(4) Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research Ltd., Tel-Shikmona, P.O.Box 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel

Submarine channels in the Levant Basin, Eastern Mediterranean Sea, are significant geological features that reveal crucial insights into sediment transport mechanisms and basin-scale sedimentary development. These northwards trending channels, formed by turbidity currents and other sediment transport mechanisms, play a key role in shaping the deep basin morphology and stratigraphy. Of these, the most prominent channel is the Levant Channel (LC), which is about 300 km long. Yet, we still lack knowledge of when the LC was formed, whether it is currently active, where it originates from, and what is the source of the sediments that it funnels. Here, we aim to address these knowledge gaps by sampling a series of downcore records along and near the LC, and studying their chemical, paleontological, isotopic (ε_Nd and 87Sr/86Sr) and sedimentological composition. The isotopic data is integrated into sediment mixing models that consider two primary sediment sources in the system: the Nile River sediments and the Saharan Desert dust. These are combined with age models based on radiocarbon dating of benthic foraminiferal shells, to reconstruct the changes in the system over time. The cores are dominated by non-laminated, clastic sediments of last-glacial age, locally exceeding the radiocarbon dating limit (>45 ka BP). Additionally, an age reversal is observed in the southern LC, all indicating repeated turbidity-current deposition. Above these layers, fine laminated sediments dated to ~8 ka BP, corresponding to Sapropel S1, record undisturbed hemipelagic sedimentation during the early-middle Holocene. Foraminiferal assemblages independently support the age model and provide additional evidence for sediment mixing and sustained shelf-derived sediment supply to the southern LC. Altogether, our results provide insight into sediment transport and provenance in the Levant basin, and their change over time, allowing the reconstruction of the late Quaternary history of the LC, with its broader implications on the Levant Basin.

bottom of page