Project Details
Projekt
Tephrochronological Synchronisation of the Dead Sea and Lake Van ICDP sediment records in the eastern Mediterranean for the last 130 kyrs (TephroMed)
Applicants
Professor Dr. Achim Brauer; Dr. Markus Schwab
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
from 2021 to 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457531540
This project aims at precise synchronisation of the long ICDP sediment cores from the Dead Sea and Lake Van in order to provide a robust chronological fundament to investigate the assumed regional hydroclimatic differences in the eastern Mediterranean. For both the Dead Sea and Lake Van sediment records independent chronologies based on different relative and absolute dating techniques have been established which, however, suffer from rather large dating uncertainties especially beyond the radiocarbon time scale. This prevents from a detailed comparison and integration of these key palaeoclimatic records in order to investigate regional climatic differences. We will make use of recent advances in the search for cryptotephra (macroscopically invisible volcanic glass shards) in sediment records that have been demonstrated as a suitable tool for regional synchronisation even if a precise dating of the correlating volcanic eruptions is not available. We aim at searching for glass shards in the Dead Sea ICDP core around major climatic transitions during the last glacial/interglacial cycle and correlate these through major and trace element chemistry with glass shards from selected major visible tephra layers in the Lake Van record. In a pilot study we could prove that volcanic glass from Anatolian sources is much more abundant in the Dead Sea sediments than expected. So far, a robust geochemical correlation with early Holocene and late Glacial eruptions of the Erciyes Dag (central Anatolia), Süphan and Nemrut (eastern Anatolia) volcanoes was successful. This makes correlations of Dead Sea tephra with Anatolian volcanic eruptions very promising, even if that presumably will not be possible for all tephra horizons in the Dead Sea due to the large number of Anatolian eruptions with similar geochemistry. We will apply glass shard morphology as well as major and trace element geochemistry for correlations. In addition to the direct link of the Dead Sae and Lake Van cores, we attempt to determine the volcanic centres and where possible the exact eruption of major tephra horizons through correlation with glass chemistry from proximal deposits and other lacustrine sediment records in Anatolia through collaboration with partners. We further attempt correlation with tephra found in archaeological sites in the Levant near the Dead Sea in an ongoing Leverhulme project by our partners in the UK. Even if cryptotephra from Italian and Hellenic volcanic centres is comparably rare in the Dead Sea sediments, we will investigate possible correlations with these sources. Ultimately, a tephra-based synchronisation of the Dead Sea and Lake Van ICDP cores will provide a solid base for testing the independent age models of both cores and reduce present dating uncertainties. Finally, the synchronisation of these two key palaeoclimatic records will allow to temporally quantify and better understand regional hydroclimatic differences in the eastern Mediterranean.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
International Connection
France, United Kingdom
Co-Investigators
Privatdozent Dr. Norbert R. Nowaczyk; Dr. Rik Tjallingii
Cooperation Partners
Professorin Dr. Catherine Kuzucuoglu; Professor Dr. Damase Mouralis; Privatdozentin Dr. Sabine Wulf
