noaa-cave-16402 Negev Desert, Israel 350KYr Speleothem Stable Isotope Data Vaks, A.; Bar-Matthews, M.; Matthews, A.; Ayalon, A.; Frumkin, A. Negev Desert, Israel 350KYr Speleothem Stable Isotope Data 2014-03-28 NCDC-Paleoclimatology ONLINE Files Pending https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/16402 Investigator A. Vaks Investigator M. Bar-Matthews Investigator A. Matthews Investigator A. Ayalon Investigator A. Frumkin earth science paleoclimate speleothems sample identification,null,null,null,null,speleothems,null,null,C,null earth science paleoclimate speleothems delta 18O,calcium carbonate,null,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null earth science paleoclimate speleothems age,null,null,calendar kiloyear before present,null,speleothems,null,null,N,null earth science paleoclimate speleothems delta 13C,calcium carbonate,null,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null earth science paleoclimate speleothems carbon isotopes earth science paleoclimate speleothems oxygen isotopes geoscientificInformation hydrology 338000 cal yr BP 87300 cal yr BP Complete 30.6397 30.6397 34.8099 34.8099 800 800 Continent Asia Western Asia Middle East Israel Even-Sid-Ramon Caves>LATITUDE 30.6397>LONGITUDE 34.8099 None Please cite original publication, online resource, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, title, online resource, and date accessed. The appearance of external links associated with a dataset does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the Department of Commerce/NOAA does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this Department of Commerce/NOAA Web site. English DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data DATA Center Contact Bruce Bauer bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov paleo@noaa.gov 303-497-6280 303-497-6513

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Boulder CO 80305-3328 USA online ASCII Anton Vaks, Miryam Bar-Matthews, Alan Matthews, Avner Ayalon, Amos Frumkin 2010 Quaternary Science Reviews 29 19-20 2647-2662 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.06.014 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379110002088

Speleothems in arid and hyper-arid areas of Negev Desert, Israel, are used in paleoclimate reconstruction of northern margins of Saharan-Arabian Desert, focused on the following objectives: 1) precise U-Th dating of the timing of speleothem growth as an indicator of periods of humid climate, i.e. positive effective precipitation; 2) the origin of rainfall using the speleothem d18O and changes in spatial pattern of speleothem deposition and speleothem thickness along a north-south transect; 3) changes of vegetation cover based on speleothem d13C variations. During the last 350 ka major humid periods, referred to herein as Negev Humid Periods (NHP), occurred in the central and southern Negev Desert at 350-310 ka (NHP-4), 310-290 ka (NHP-3), 220-190 ka (NHP-2), and 142-109 ka (NHP-1). NHP-4, NHP-2 and NHP-1 are interglacial events, whereas NHP-3 is associated with a glacial period. During NHP-1, 2 and 3 the thickness and volume of the speleothems decrease from the north to the south, and in the most southern part of the region only a very thin flowstone layer formed during NHP-1, with no speleothem deposition occurring during NHP-2 and 3. These data imply that the Eastern Mediterranean Sea was the major source of the rainfall in northern and central Negev. More negative speleothem d18O values, relative to central parts of Israel (Soreq Cave) are attributed to Rayleigh distillation because of the increasing distance from the Mediterranean Sea. Speleothem deposition during the NHP-4 in the southern Negev was more intensive than in most of the central Negev, suggesting the prominence of the tropical rain source. Decrease in speleothem d13C during NHP events indicates growth of the vegetation cover. Nevertheless, the ranges of d13C values show that the vegetation remained semi-desert C4 type throughout the NHPs, with an additional significant carbon fraction coming from the host rock and the atmosphere. These observations, together with small thickness of the speleothem layers, favor that NHP events consisted of clusters of very short humid episodes interspersed with long droughts. NHP events were contemporaneous with climate periods with monsoon index of >=51 (cal/cm2 x day) and with the formation of sapropel layers in the Mediterranean Sea. Such simultaneous intensification of the monsoon and Atlantic-Mediterranean cyclones is probably related to the weakening of the high pressure cell above sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean, which enabled more rainfall to penetrate into the Saharan-Arabian Desert from the north and south. The contemporaneous occurrence of the NHP events and the increased monsoon rainfall could have opened migration corridors, creating climatic "windows of opportunity" for dispersals of hominids and animals out of the African continent. STUDY NOTES: Stable isotope (d18O and d13C) data from speleothems collected in 9 caves located in the Negev Desert, Israel.

GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/asia/israel/negev2010.txt Data File; Negev Desert Speleothem Stable Isotope Data GET DATA https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/asia/israel/negev2010.xls Excel Data File; Negev Desert Speleothem Stable Isotope Data USA/NOAA DIF Version 9.8.4 2018-12-11 2018-12-11