In this postcast, we explain how researchers obtain climate information by studying the chemistry of sediments in the Dead Sea over the past ~130 thousand years (Waldmann et al., 2007).

In this podcast, we explore the impact of climate change on a lake ecosystem in the southern Arabian Desert during the late Holocene. The authors used a variety of paleo-proxies, including n-alkanes, ostracods, and chironomids, to analyze a sediment core from the Gayal el Bazal paleolake in Yemen. By comparing the abundance of these proxies with periods of known wet and dry intervals during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA), the researchers were able to reconstruct the lake's response to climatic fluctuations. They found that the lake's ecosystem, including water levels, salinity, and productivity, responded significantly to these changes, revealing a complex interplay of environmental factors. This research emphasizes the importance of using multiple proxies to understand past environmental changes and provides valuable insights into how arid-zone aquatic ecosystems may respond to future climate change (Parth et al., 2023).

In this postcast, the researches investigate the relationship between climate-driven factors, like changes in water levels and sedimentation rates, and the occurrence of submarine mass failures in the Dead Sea Basin. The authors analyzed a record of 490 earthquake-triggered mass failures spanning the past 220,000 years. They found that, while sedimentation rates were not a significant factor, high lake levels punctuated by large-amplitude fluctuations were strongly correlated with increased mass failures. This finding suggests that lake levels, particularly during glacial periods, play a crucial role in preconditioning slopes for seismic-triggered mass failures, highlighting the importance of high-resolution climate records for understanding submarine geohazards (Lu et al., 2020).

In this podcast, we investigate the presence of humidity during past interglacial periods in the arid Saharo-Arabian desert belt, specifically focusing on the Dead Sea-Red Sea corridor. While the Dead Sea basin typically experiences high water levels during glacial periods and low water levels during interglacials, the authors present evidence of short, sporadic periods of increased humidity during interglacial periods, which they believe are related to northward intrusions of low-latitude rainstorms and/or tropical plumes. This discovery challenges the prevailing theory that the region’s humidity is solely controlled by Mediterranean cyclones. By studying the timing and distribution of travertine deposits, speleothems, and other paleohydrological archives, the authors propose that orbital shifts causing northward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) may have significantly impacted the eastern fringe of the Saharo-Arabian desert belt, potentially influencing human migration out of Africa. The authors conclude that understanding these past humid episodes is crucial for understanding the complex interplay of climate variability, human evolution, and migration patterns in the region (Waldmann et al., 2010).

In this podcast, we examine the catastrophic rock fall and tsunami events that occurred in Lake Lovatnet, western Norway in 1905 and 1936. The authors integrated historical records, geological data, and numerical modeling to reconstruct the events, emphasizing the destructive nature of the 1936 event, which resulted in the deaths of 74 people. The paper investigates the sedimentary imprint of these events in the lake's subsurface sediments, analyzes the processes that led to the rock falls, and uses a numerical model to simulate the tsunami wave's propagation across the lake. The study's key objective is to improve our understanding of rock fall-tsunami events, contributing to the mitigation of similar geohazards in Norway and other parts of the world (Waldmann et al., 2021).

In this podcast, we explore the fluctuations in the Dead Sea lake level over the past 237,000 years. The authors use a novel method involving Brillouin spectroscopy on halite fluid inclusions to measure the density of the lake water, which is then linked to the lake's volume. They combine this data with existing information on pore water composition and the thickness of halite layers in the Dead Sea core to reconstruct lake levels, volume, and mass balance. The paper also examines the role of subsidence, a process where the basin floor sinks, in shaping the lake level. The researchers ultimately conclude that the Dead Sea's level is not simply a direct result of climate change, but is also influenced by subsidence and the lake's solute inventory, specifically the concentration of sodium chloride. This understanding is crucial for accurately interpreting paleohydrological records from the Dead Sea and using its level as a gauge of past climatic conditions (Guillerm et al., 2023).

In this podcast, we analyze a high-resolution, three-dimensional seismic reflection dataset from the Levant Basin offshore central Israel, focusing on a distinct Pliocene interval characterized by submarine channels. The study combines this dataset with well-log data to identify and classify two distinct types of submarine channels – Type-1 channels which are V-shaped, relatively straight, and narrow and Type-2 channels which are U-shaped, relatively sinuous, and wide. The authors propose that the cyclic occurrence of these channel types is driven by relative sea level fluctuations and increased Nile River sediment supply, which is associated with rapid uplift of the Ethiopian plateau and increased African Monsoon rainfall during the Pliocene (Niyazi et al., 2018).

In this podcast, we analyze a prominent tectonic feature on Earth's crust: the Dead Sea fault. Moire in detail, we explore the impact of this fault on the tectonism and sediments infilling a basin in northern Israel. Our study focuses on the Yesha Fault. Through detailed analysis of sedimentary sequences from boreholes and geochronological data obtained by optically stimulated luminescence and magnetostratigraphy, this research aims to refine the understanding of sedimentation patterns, rates, and tectonic activity associated with this marginal fault (Shtober-Zisu et al., 2025). This study was led by Prof. Nurit Shtober-Zisu, and more details are in this link.