@article{5b3ef12cac9845818eabcc46d83a7048,
title = "U-Pb speleothem geochronology reveals a major 6 Ma uplift phase along the western margin of Dead Sea Transform",
abstract = "The timing of vertical motions adjacent to the Dead Sea Transform plate boundary is not yet firmly established. We utilize laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U-Pb geochronology of carbonate cave deposits (speleothems) to constrain paleo-groundwater levels along the western margin of the Dead Sea Transform and provide a proxy for the timing of large-scale incision and tectonic uplift. Phreatic speleothems can form in caves that are located slightly below the groundwater level. Tectonic uplift and/or base level subsidence can trigger incision of canyons and induce a drop in the groundwater table. This can cause dewatering of the caves, cessation of the deposition of phreatic speleothems, and initiation of growth of vadose speleothems. The transition between deposition of phreatic and vadose speleothems can therefore reflect tectonic or erosive events. We obtained 102 U-Pb ages from 32 speleothems collected from three cave complexes across a 150-km-long, north-to-south transect. These ages indicate that phreatic deposition began between 14.68 ± 1.33 and 11.34 ± 1.62 and ended by 6.21 ± 0.59 Ma. Later, vadose speleothems grew intermittently until the Quaternary. These results suggest an abrupt drop in the water table starting at ca. 6 Ma with no re-submergence of the caves. We interpret this to indicate river incision of ~150–200 m that was driven by uplift and folding of the western margin of the Dead Sea Transform and by inland morpho-tectonic, base-level subsidence in the Dead Sea area. The observed timing corresponds with a change in the Euler pole of the plates motion along the Dead Sea Transform.",
author = "O. Chaldekas and A. Vaks and I. Haviv and A. Gerdes and R. Albert",
note = "Funding Information: Kosashvili from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel, for his help in thin section preparation. We thank the people of the Geological Survey of Israel: Keren Weiss-Sarusi for her help in the clean lab, Yevgeni Zakon and Ludwik Halitz for their help with the multicollector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry measurements, Galit Sharabi for her help with chemical analyses, Raanan Bodzin for operating the scanning electron microscope, Perach Nuriel for her help and guidance in U-Pb age corrections for initial 234U-238U, Uriya Vaanunu and Haim Hemo for their fieldwork assistance, and M. Rosensaft and A. Borshevsky for assistance with maps and GIS. We thank the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority for granting a permit to sample speleothems in protected areas. This research was funded by Israeli Science Foundation grant ISF-727-16. The Frankfurt Isotope and Element Research Center (FIERCE) is financially supported by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft (DFG, INST 161/921-1 FUGG and INST 161/923-1 FUGG), which is gratefully acknowledged. This is FIERCE contribution no. 67. Funding Information: We thank Linda Marko of the ICP-MS Geochronology and Radiogenic Isotope Facility, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, for help and technical support in the lab. We thank DavidKosashvili from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel, for his help in thin section preparation. We thank the people of the Geological Survey of Israel: Keren Weiss-Sarusi for her help in the clean lab, Yevgeni Zakon and Ludwik Halitz for their help with the multicollector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry measurements, Galit Sharabi for her help with chemical analyses, Raanan Bodzin for operating the scanning electron microscope, Perach Nuriel for her help and guidance in U-Pb age corrections for initial 234U-238U, Uriya Vaanunu and Haim Hemo for their fieldwork assistance, and M. Rosensaft and A. Borshevsky for assistance with maps and GIS. We thank the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority for granting a permit to sample speleothems in protected areas. This research was funded by Israeli Science Foundation grant ISF-727-16. The Frankfurt Isotope and Element Research Center (FIERCE) is financially supported by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, INST 161/921-1 FUGG and INST 161/923-1 FUGG), which is gratefully acknowledged. This is FIERCE contribution no. 67 Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. Geological Society of America",
year = "2022",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1130/B36051.1",
language = "English",
volume = "134",
pages = "1571--1584",
journal = "Bulletin of the Geological Society of America",
issn = "0016-7606",
publisher = "Geological Society of America",
number = "5-6",
}