Sinkholes and uvalas in evaporite karst: spatio-temporal development with links to base-level fall on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea
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Published:2019-08-30
Issue:4
Volume:10
Page:1451-1468
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ISSN:1869-9529
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Container-title:Solid Earth
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Solid Earth
Author:
Watson Robert A.ORCID, Holohan Eoghan P.ORCID, Al-Halbouni DjamilORCID, Saberi Leila, Sawarieh Ali, Closson Damien, Alrshdan Hussam, Abou Karaki Najib, Siebert ChristianORCID, Walter Thomas R.ORCID, Dahm TorstenORCID
Abstract
Abstract. Enclosed topographic depressions are characteristic of
karst landscapes on Earth. The developmental relationship between depression
types, such as sinkholes (dolines) and uvalas, has been the subject of debate,
mainly because the long developmental timescales in classical limestone
karst settings impede direct observation. Here we characterize the
morphometric properties and spatio-temporal development of ∼1150 sinkholes and five uvalas formed from ∼1980 to 2017 in
an evaporite karst setting along the eastern coast of the hypersaline Dead
Sea (at Ghor Al-Haditha, Jordan). The development of sinkhole populations
and individual uvalas is intertwined in terms of onset, evolution and
cessation. The sinkholes commonly develop in clusters, within which they may
coalesce to form compound or nested sinkholes. In general, however, the
uvalas are not defined by coalescence of sinkholes. Although each uvala
usually encloses several clusters of sinkholes, it develops as a
larger-scale, gentler and structurally distinct depression. The location of
new sinkholes and uvalas shows a marked shoreline-parallel migration with
time, followed by a marked shoreline-perpendicular (i.e. seaward) growth
with time. These observations are consistent with theoretical predictions of
karstification controlled by a laterally migrating interface between
saturated and undersaturated groundwater, as induced by the 35 m fall in the
Dead Sea water level since 1967. More generally, our observations indicate that
uvalas and the sinkhole populations within them, although morphometrically
distinct, can develop near-synchronously by subsidence in response to
subsurface erosion.
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Paleontology,Stratigraphy,Earth-Surface Processes,Geochemistry and Petrology,Geology,Geophysics,Soil Science
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