000094562 001__ 94562 000094562 005__ 20210902121748.0 000094562 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.3389/feart.2020.00173 000094562 0248_ $$2sideral$$a118638 000094562 037__ $$aART-2020-118638 000094562 041__ $$aeng 000094562 100__ $$0(orcid)0000-0001-6527-3972$$aLarrasoaña, Juan Cruz$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza 000094562 245__ $$aMagnetostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of the Kuntila Lake Sediments, Southern Israel: Implications for Late Cenozoic Climate Variability at the Northern Fringe of the Saharo-Arabian Desert Belt 000094562 260__ $$c2020 000094562 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted 000094562 5203_ $$aThe Negev Desert in southern Israel hosts a number of late Cenozoic lacustrine and palustrine sedimentary sequences that attest for past wetter conditions in what today constitutes one of the driest deserts on Earth. These sequences are of special importance because the Negev Desert forms part of the Levantine Corridor, which was probably the only continental bridge that enabled initial out-of-Africa expansion of our genus Homo. Yet, the paleoclimatic significance of these sequences still remains unknown, mainly due to their uncertain (late Pliocene to early Pleistocene) age. Here we present a combined sedimentologic, paleontologic and magnetostratigraphic study of one of these sedimentary sequences, the so-called Kuntila Lake sediments, which was carried out at the 30 m-thick Kuntila Gate section in the Nahal Paran basin, southern Israel. Sedimentological evidence and ostracod faunas indicate that these sediments accumulated in a long-lasting lacustrine basin that underwent periodic lake-level variations. Magnetostratigraphic measurements enable the recognition of a normal (N1) and a reverse (R1) polarity zone in the lower and upper halves, respectively, of the Kuntila Gate section. Correlation of N1 to the Olduvai Subchron (1.778–1.945 Ma) appears as the most likely option in view of previously published 10Be ages derived for the uppermost part of the Kuntila Member in nearby sections. The large errors associated with these ages, however, suggest that correlation of N1 to Subchron C2An.1n (2.582–3.032 Ma) is also possible. Although our results do not resolve the age of the Arava Formation, they unequivocally relate the Kuntila Lake sediments with a long period of enhanced climatic variability because the tops of both subchrons are associated with 400 kyr eccentricity maxima. The inferred wetter conditions in the Negev Desert concurred, regardless of the age correlation, with periods of lake expansion in East Africa and clusters of short-lived expansions of the savannah throughout much of the Sahara. This would have facilitated the biogeographic connection between Africa and Eurasia, greening the path for the initial out-of-Africa dispersal of Homo. Further research on the Kuntila Lake sediments will be necessary to better determine the timing, extent and significance of such biogeographic connection. 000094562 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/MARIE CURIE-COFUND-CGL2012-30875-GUADALTYC 000094562 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ 000094562 592__ $$a1.104$$b2020 000094562 593__ $$aEarth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)$$c2020$$dQ1 000094562 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 000094562 700__ $$aWaldmann, Nicolas 000094562 700__ $$aMischke, Steffen 000094562 700__ $$aAvni, Yoav 000094562 700__ $$aGinat, Hanan 000094562 7102_ $$12000$$2428$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Ciencias de la Tierra$$cÁrea Geodinámica Interna 000094562 773__ $$g8 (2020), 173 1-12$$pFront. earth sci. (Lausanne)$$tFrontiers in Earth Science$$x2296-6463 000094562 8564_ $$s2627231$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/94562/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada 000094562 8564_ $$s463492$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/94562/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada 000094562 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:94562$$particulos$$pdriver 000094562 951__ $$a2021-09-02-09:47:48 000094562 980__ $$aARTICLE