Speleothems from Lebanon

Ondertitel:Chapter 18.

The Levant region has a long history of human settlement and migration. Water and food availability have been, and still are, major factors influencing the complex social and political situation in the region. In this region with strong north–south and eastwest topographic, temperature, and precipitation gradients (e.g. Avni, Chapter 2 ; Kushnir et al ., Chapter 4 of this volume), subtle changes in regional climate patterns may induce huge changes over short spatial and temporal scales. During the past decade, several palaeoclimatic studies of this region ( Fig. 18.1 ) using marine (Rossignol-Strick et al . 1999 ; Kallel et al . 2000 ;Emeis et al . 2003 ) and continental palaeoclimate records (e.g. Frumkin et al . 2000 ; Bar-Matthews et al . 2003 , Bar-Matthews 2014 ,and Chapter 17 of this volume; Kolodny et al . 2005 ; Verheyden et al . 2008 ; Develle et al . 2011 ; Ayalon et al . 2013 ;Vaks et al . 2013 ; Gasse et al . 2015 , and Chapter 19 of this volume; Stein & Goldstein, Chapter 12 of this volume; Torfstein & Enzel, Chapter 13 of this volume) have revealed a complex regional climatic pattern, and more particularly, distinct north–south differences in precipitation variability. In a region where a drier climate is expected in the context of global warming, a robust understanding of past precipitation patterns is particularly important to understand future water stress. Hence, the Levant is an ideal region to study the impact of climate as one of the potential factors influencing societal change.

ISBN:1107090466

Jaar van publicatie:2017