Abstract
Mount Sedom diapir is one of the few places on Earth where rock-salt is exposed, due to extreme aridity. The relief and surface features of the diapir basically reflect its parent-rock geological structure, stratigraphy, and lithology on one hand, and recent erosion and dissolution on the other one. Major landforms include lines of sliding faults, dissolution furrows, dolines of dissolution and collapse origin, karstic shafts, and an irregular drainage system dominated by many blind valleys. The diapir rock-salt is covered by residual caprock, in turn partly overlain by less consolidated insoluble sediments. Gravels and terraces of abrasion of the regressing lake shore appear in places. Exposed salt outcrops are relatively rare and undergo rapid dissolution, demonstrated by karst features, from sharp rillenkarren to the largest salt caves known globally. The extreme solubility of the underlying salt influences the surface landscape by inducing high permeability, which promotes runoff to be swallowed into the underlying salt. The young relief and erodible sediments allow for various rock towers and inselbergs which remain standing after surrounding erosion took place.
Israel Zak—Deceased author.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abirifard M, Raeisi E, Zarei M, Zare M, Filippi M, Bruthans J Talbot CJ (2017) Jahani salt diapir, Iran: hydrogeology, karst features and effect on surroundings environment. Int J Speleol 46(3):445–457
Agnon A, Weinberger R, Zak I, Sneh A (2006) Geological map of Israel 1: 50000, Sedom sheet 20-I II. Geological Survey of Israel
Alsop GI, Weinberger R, Levi T, Marco S (2015) Deformation within an exposed salt wall: recumbent folding and extrusion of evaporites in the Dead Sea Basin. J Struct Geol 70:95–118
Baioni D, Wezel FC (2010) Morphology and origin of an evaporitic dome in the eastern Tithonium Chasma, Mars. Planet Space Sci 58(5):847–857
Barton DC (1925) The salt domes of south Texas. AAPG Bull 9(3):536–589
Bernhardt H, Reiss D, Hiesinger H, Ivanov MA (2016) The honeycomb terrain on the Hellas basin floor, Mars: a case for salt or ice diapirism. J Geophys Res Planets 121(4):714–738
Bevier GM (1925) The Damon mound oil field, Texas. AAPG Bull 9(3):505–535
Bruthans J, Šmíd J, Filippi M, Zeman O (2000) Thickness of cap rock and other important factors affecting the morphogenesis of salt karst. Acta carsologica 29(2):51–64
Bruthans J, Filippi M, Zare M, Churáčková Z, Asadi N, Fuchs M, Adamovič J (2010) Evolution of salt diapir and karst morphology during the last glacial cycle: effects of sea-level oscillation, diapir and regional uplift, and erosion (Persian Gulf, Iran). Geomorphology 121(3–4):291–304
De Waele J, Picotti V, Zini L, Cucchi F, Forti P, Galli E, Rossi A (2009) Karst phenomena in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama, Chile). Geoacta Spec Publ 2:113–127
Diot X, El Maarry MR, Schlunegger F, Norton KP, Thomas NH, Grindrod PM (2014) The geomorphology and morphometry of the banded terrain in Hellas basin, Mars. Planet Space Sci 101:118–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2014.06.013
Frumkin A (1994a) Morphology and development of salt caves. J Caves Karst Stud (NSS Bull) 56:82–95
Frumkin A (1994b) Hydrology and denudation rates of halite karst. J Hydrol 162(1–2):171–189
Frumkin A (1996a) Uplift rate relative to base level of a salt diapir (Dead Sea, Israel), as indicated by cave levels. In: Alsop I, Blundell D, Davison I (eds) Salt Tectonics, Geological Society of London, SP, vol 100, pp 41–47
Frumkin A (1996b) Determining the exposure age of a karst landscape. Quatern Res 46:99–106
Frumkin A (2009a) Stable isotopes of a subfossil Tamarix tree from the Dead Sea region, Israel, and their implications for the Intermediate Bronze Age environmental crisis. Quatern Res 71:319–328
Frumkin A (2009b) Formation and dating of a salt pillar in Mount Sedom diapir, Israel. Geol Soc Am Bull 121(1/2):286–293
Frumkin A (2013) Salt Karst. In: Frumkin A (volume ed), Shroder J (ed. in chief) Treatise in geomorphology. Elsevier, Academic Press, San Diego, vol 6, pp 208–424
Frumkin A, Ford DC (1995) Rapid entrenchment of stream profiles in the salt caves of Mount Sedom, Israel. Earth Surf Proces Landforms 20(2):139–152
Frumkin A, Magaritz M, Carmi I, Zak I (1991) The Holocene climatic record of the salt caves of Mount Sedom, Israel. Holocene 1(3):191–200
Frumkin A, Pe’eri S, Zak I (2021) Development of banded terrain in an active salt diapir: potential analog to Mars. Geomorphology 389:107824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107824
Garfunkel Z (1981) Internal structure of the Dead Sea leaky transform (rift) in relation to plate kinematics. Tectonophysics 80:81–108
Gerson R (1977) Sediment transport for desert watersheds in erodible materials. Earth Surf Proces 2(4):343–361
Gerson R, Inbar M (1974) The field study program of the Jerusalem-Elat symposium, 1974. Reviews and summaries of Israeli research projects. Z Geomorphol Suppl 20:7–11
Mottershead DN, Duane WJ, Inkpen RJ, Wright JS (2008) An investigation of the geometric controls on the morphological evolution of small-scale salt terrains, Cardona, Spain. Environ Geol 53(5):1091–1098
Negev Y, Cohen E, Vlaykova A, Langford B (2021) The new survey of Malham Cave—the longest salt cave in the world. Niqrot Zurim 21:157–168 (Hebrew, English abstract)
Pe'eri S, Zebker HA, Ben-Avraham Z, Frumkin A, Hall JK (2004) Spatially-resolved uplift rate of the Mount Sedom (Dead Sea) salt diapir from InSAR observations. Israel J Earth Sci 53(2):99–106
Powers S (1926) Interior salt domes of Texas. AAPG Bull 10(1):1–60
Talbot CJ, Pohjola V (2009) Subaerial salt extrusions in Iran as analogues of ice sheets, streams and glaciers. Earth Sci Rev 97(1–4):155–183
Weinberger R, Begin ZB, Waldmann N, Gardosh M, Baer G, Frumkin A, Wdowinski S (2006) Quaternary rise of the Sedom Diapir, Dead Sea basin. In: Enzel Y, Agnon A, Stein M (eds) New frontiers in Dead Sea paleoenvironmental research, GSA Special Paper, Boulder, GSA, vol 401, pp 33–51
Weinberger R, Bar-Matthews M, Levi T, Begin ZB (2007) Late-Pleistocene rise of the Sedom diapir on the backdrop of water-level fluctuations of Lake Lisan, Dead Sea Basin. Quat Int 175(1):53–61
Weiss DK, Head JW (2017) Salt or ice diapirism origin for the honeycomb terrain in Hellas basin, Mars?: implications for the early martian climate. Icarus 284:249–263
Wolman MG, Gerson R (1978) Relative scales of time and effectiveness of climate in watershed geomorphology. Earth Surf Proces 3(2):189–208
Zak I (1967) The geology of Mount Sedom, PhD thesis (Hebrew, English Summary). The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Zucker E, Frumkin A, Agnon A, Weinberger R (2019) Internal deformation and uplift-rate of Salt walls detected by a displaced dissolution surface, Dead Sea basin. J Struct Geol 127:103870
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Frumkin, A., Zak, I. (2024). Surface Landforms of Mount Sedom Diapir, Dead Sea Basin, Israel. In: Frumkin, A., Shtober-Zisu, N. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Israel. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44764-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44764-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-44763-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-44764-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)