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Karst system developed in salt layers of the Lisan Peninsula, Dead Sea, Jordan

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The Lisan Peninsula, Jordan, is a massive salt layer accumulated in the inner part of the Dead Sea’s precursory lakes. This tongue-shaped, emergent land results in a salt diapir uplifted in the Dead Sea strike-slip regional stress field and modified by the water level fluctuations of the last lake during the Holocene. These two elements, associated with dissolution caused by rainfall and groundwater circulation, resulted in an authentic karst system. Since the 1960s, the Dead Sea lowering of 80 cm to 1 m per year caused costly damages to the industrial plant set up on the peninsula. The Lisan karst system is described in this article and the components of the present dynamic setting clarified.

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Acknowledgments

The work of Prof. Najib Abou Karaki was done with the support of the European Commission funded APAME project (Contract ICA3-CT-2002–10024). The field work of Damien Closson in Jordan, in 2005, was done with the support of H.E. Mr. Ambassador of Belgium, Michel Godfrind. The authors would like to thank Professor Camille Ek of the University of Liege, Belgium, for fruitful discussion and advice. The satellite view of Fig. 10 is a subset of a Space Shuttle photograph (July 14, 2005). Mission: ISS011; Roll: E; Frame: 10551. Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. “Astronaut Photography of Earth-Display Record”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Signal and Image Centre, Royal Military Academy of Belgium, 14, Rue Leon Frederic, 1030, Brussels, Belgium

    Damien Closson

  2. Journal Environmental Geology, Springer, Tuscaloosa, USA

    Philip E. LaMoreaux

  3. Environmental and Applied Geology Department, University of Jordan, 11942, Amman, Jordan

    Najib Abou Karaki & Hassan al-Fugha

Authors
  1. Damien Closson
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  2. Philip E. LaMoreaux
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  3. Najib Abou Karaki
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  4. Hassan al-Fugha
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Correspondence to Damien Closson.

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Closson, D., LaMoreaux, P.E., Abou Karaki, N. et al. Karst system developed in salt layers of the Lisan Peninsula, Dead Sea, Jordan. Environ Geol 52, 155–172 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0469-9

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