Temperature seasonality control on modern halite layers in the Dead Sea: In situ observations

Sirota, Ido; Enzel, Yehouda; Lensky, Nadav G.

doi:10.1130/b31661.1

Cited by 25 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Fluid inclusions in clear bottom-growth halite occur as oriented assemblages aligned parallel to crystal growth faces, not dense enough to form chevron banding. This type of halite has been found in ancient halite from Death Valley, California [34] and the Qaidam Basin, China [35], and from the modern Dead Sea [36]. Clear bottom-growth halite is distinct from recrystallized halite.…”

Section: Microscopymentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Primary halite is characterized by (1) cumulate crystals that precipitated at the air-brine interface or in the water column and (2) bottom-growth halite with or without fluid inclusion banding, the former called chevron halite and the latter clear bottom-growth halite [32][33][34][35][36]. Cumulate and chevron halite commonly contain well-defined fluid inclusion banding parallel to crystal growth faces.…”

Section: Microscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dense fluid inclusions occur in some cumulate halite (Figure 3f). Cumulate halite precipitates at the brine surface or in the water column and then sinks to the brine bottom to form well-sorted accumulations [33][34][35][36]. …”

Section: Khorat Halite and Fluid Inclusion Microscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Support for this hypothesis includes: (1) the absence of dissolution features in primary halite, such as horizontal truncations and vertical dissolution pipes; (2) large temperature variations in halite beds, such as 49.5-81.0 • C at 86.7 m, core K1 and 57.9-117.2 • C at 154 m, core RS2.6 (Table 2); and (3) hematite microcrystals. Primary halites formed in non-stratified, shallow perennial brines less than 1 m deep are commonly characterized by dissolution truncations due to episodic flooding by freshwaters [33,63] or undersaturation when brine temperatures rise in the summer [36]. Well preserved chevron and cumulate textures without dissolution features in the Khorat halites (Figure 3) indicate that they were precipitated in density-stratified brines never in contact with fresh water and never undersaturated with halite during summer brine heating.…”

Section: Solar-heating Hypothesis: Solar Pond Effect?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Anomalously High Cretaceous Paleobrine Temperatures: Hothouse, Hydrothermal or Solar Heating?

Wang

Lowenstein

2017

Minerals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Elevated surface paleobrine temperatures (average 85.6 • C) are reported here from Cretaceous marine halites in the Maha Sarakham Formation, Khorat Plateau, Thailand. Fluid inclusions in primary subaqueous "chevron" and "cumulate" halites associated with potash salts contain daughter crystals of sylvite (KCl) and carnallite (MgCl 2 ·KCl·6H 2 O). Petrographic textures demonstrate that these fluid inclusions were trapped from the warm brines in which the halite crystallized. Later cooling produced supersaturated conditions leading to the precipitation of sylvite and carnallite daughter crystals within fluid inclusions. Dissolution temperatures of daughter crystals in fluid inclusions from the same halite bed vary over a large range (57.9 • C to 117.2 • C), suggesting that halite grew at different temperatures within and at the bottom of the water column. Consistency of daughter crystal dissolution temperatures within fluid inclusion bands and the absence of vapor bubbles at room temperature demonstrate that fluid inclusions have not stretched or leaked. Daughter crystal dissolution temperatures are reproducible to within 0.1 • C to 10.2 • C (average of 1.8 • C), and thus faithfully document paleobrine conditions. Microcrystalline hematite incorporated within halite crystals also indicate high paleobrine temperatures. We conclude that halite crystallized from warm brines rich in K-Mg-Na-Cl; sylvite and carnallite daughter crystals were nucleated during cooling of the warm brines sometime after deposition. Hothouse, hydrothermal, and solar-heating hypotheses are compared to explain the anomalously high surface paleobrine temperatures. Solar radiation stored in shallow density stratified brines is the most plausible explanation for the observed paleobrine temperatures and the progressively higher temperatures downward through the paleobrine column. The solar-heating hypothesis may also explain high paleobrine temperatures documented from fluid inclusions in other ancient halites.

show abstract

Section: Microscopymentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Microscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Khorat Halite and Fluid Inclusion Microscopymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Solar-heating Hypothesis: Solar Pond Effect?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Anomalously High Cretaceous Paleobrine Temperatures: Hothouse, Hydrothermal or Solar Heating?

Wang

Lowenstein

2017

Minerals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ignoring chemical composition variations is justified for short‐term simulations (days to weeks) that are needed for internal waves simulations. However, in longer simulations (months to years), it would be preferable to account for halite precipitation and dissolution (Arnon et al ; Sirota et al , ) and for double diffusive fluxes (Arnon et al ); both of these are beyond the scope of this article.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal dynamics of internal waves governed by stratification stability and wind: Analysis of high‐resolution observations from the Dead Sea

Arnon

Brenner

Selker

et al. 2019

Limnology & Oceanography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Internal waves in stratified lakes are affected by the seasonally varying stratification and the wind forcing. We studied the seasonal dynamics of internal waves by means of high‐resolution observations and model simulations for the Dead Sea. A two‐layer hydrostatic model provided high correlations between measured thermocline depth and the lake level oscillations. Seasonally, the amplitude of the thermocline fluctuations were anticorrelated with the density difference between the water layers; the largest fluctuations were observed when stratification was weak in spring/fall and moderate to weak fluctuations in mid‐summer when stratification was fully developed. The surface and the internal waves propagated counterclockwise along the coasts at a speed of ~0.5 m s−1. Power spectra of the observed wind as well as the measured and simulated lake level and thermocline depth show a pronounced diurnal period during summer, suggesting forcing by the diurnally varying wind. During spring and fall, when the water column stability diminishes, a hint of longer wind periods appear in addition to the diurnal mode. Accordingly, the lake level and thermocline depth fluctuations respond at lower frequencies. In the fall, the longer wind periods are close to the lake's first vertical normal mode, suggesting that resonant amplification of the internal waves may explain the observed lower frequency response of the level and thermocline oscillations. Reduction of the stratification stability originating from anthropogenic water diversion over the past four decades, associated with lake level decline and salinity increase, have led to increases of internal waves amplitude and periods.

show abstract

Diurnal Course of Evaporation From the Dead Sea in Summer: A Distinct Double Peak Induced by Solar Radiation and Night Sea Breeze

Lensky

Peretz

et al. 2018

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Partitioning between the relative effects of the radiative and aerodynamic components of the atmospheric forcing on evaporation is challenging since diurnal distributions of wind speed and solar radiation typically overlap. The Dead Sea is located about a 100 km off the Eastern Mediterranean coast, where and the Mediterranean Sea breeze front reaches it after sunset. Therefore, in the Dead Sea the peaks of solar radiation and wind speed diurnal cycles in the Dead Sea are distinctly separated in time, offering a unique opportunity to distinguish between their relative impacts on evaporation. We present mid‐summer eddy covariance and meteorological measurements of evaporation rate and surface energy fluxes over the Dead Sea. The evaporation rate is characterized by a clear diurnal cycle with a daytime peak, few hours after solar radiation peak, and a nighttime peak coincident with wind speed peak. Evaporation rate is minimum during sunrise and sunset. Measurements of evaporation rate from two other water bodies that are closer to the Mediterranean coast, Eshkol Reservoir, and Lake Kinneret, present a single afternoon peak, synchronous with the sea breeze. The inland diurnal evaporation rate cycle varies with the distance from the Mediterranean coast, following the propagation of sea breeze front: near the coast, wind speed, and radiation peaks are close and consequently a single daily evaporation peak appears in the afternoon; at the Dead Sea, about a 100 km inland, the sea breeze front arrives at sunset, resulting in a diurnal evaporation cycle characterized by a distinct double peak.

show abstract

Temperature seasonality control on modern halite layers in the Dead Sea: In situ observations

Cited by 25 publications

References 28 publications

Anomalously High Cretaceous Paleobrine Temperatures: Hothouse, Hydrothermal or Solar Heating?

Anomalously High Cretaceous Paleobrine Temperatures: Hothouse, Hydrothermal or Solar Heating?

Seasonal dynamics of internal waves governed by stratification stability and wind: Analysis of high‐resolution observations from the Dead Sea

Diurnal Course of Evaporation From the Dead Sea in Summer: A Distinct Double Peak Induced by Solar Radiation and Night Sea Breeze

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About