High resolution analysis of sediments from the Dead Sea, Israel - Development of scientific standards for the proposed Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project (DSDDP)

该项目的目的是应用一种新的方法来识别死海沉积物中的洪水和沙尘暴层，并建立这些事件沉积物的全新世时间序列。我们将结合岩石薄片分析、x射线荧光元素扫描和高分辨率磁化率测量。由此产生的多代理数据集的分辨率将低于1.0毫米，从而可以在微观尺度上识别单个沙尘暴和洪水层。研究将主要在Ein Feshka、Ein Gedi和Ze’elim沉积物记录中的现有岩心材料上进行。所有这些记录都位于死海西岸南北气候梯度处。将整合以往对这些岩心进行的低分辨率研究的结果。为了从区域信号中分离出本地信号，三个站点的核将被详细地关联和同步。除了建立单个极端事件的长时间序列外，预期的数据将允许认识到全新世期间东地中海气候系统的十年尺度变化。一个特别的重点将是破译北大西洋涛动（NAO）和太阳辐照变化的影响。新的高分辨率多代理时间序列将为死海钻井项目（DSDDP）中计划的长期记录的未来研究提供一个深刻的数据库。岸线样带与深湖相的详细对比将有助于全面解释死海盆地的沉积过程。此外，该项目中应用的新方法组合具有很大的潜力，可以从计划的长ICDP岩心中建立非常长的时间序列的极端事件。

The aim of this project is to apply a novel methodological approach to identify flood and dust storm layers in Dead Sea sediments and to establish Holocene time series of these event deposits. We will combine petrographic thin section analyses, X-ray fluorescence element scanning and high-resolution magnetic susceptibility measurements. The resolution of the resulting set of multi-proxy data will be below 1.0 mm thus allowing identification of individual dust storm and flood layers down to microscopic scale. The study will be carried out mainly on existing core material from the sediment records of Ein Feshka, Ein Gedi and Ze’elim. All these records are located along a North-South climatic gradient at the western shore of the Dead Sea. Results from previous low resolution studies on these cores will be integrated. Cores from all three sites will be correlated and synchronized in great detail in order to disentangle local from regional signals. In addition to establishing long time series of individual extreme events, the expected data will allow for recognising decadal-scale variability in the eastern Mediterranean climate system during the Holocene. A particular focus will be on deciphering the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and solar irradiation changes. The new high-resolution multiproxy time series will serve as a profound data base for future studies of the planned long record within the Dead Sea Drilling Project (DSDDP). Detailed correlation of the shoreline transect with the deep lake facies will contribute to a comprehensive interpretation of the depositional processes in the Dead Sea Basin. Moreover, the new combination of methods applied in this project has a large potential to establish very long time series of extreme events from the planned long ICDP core.