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Lake Kinneret levels and active faulting in the Tiberias area

2004; Volume: 53; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1560/k54y-l2ln-994u-mg4h

2223-8972

Nissim Hazan, Mordechai Stein, Shmuel Marco,

Marine and environmental studies

Reconstruction of the Lake Kinneret level curve for the past 6000 years reveals several rises and declines that are simultaneous with similar but more enhanced changes in the Holocene Dead Sea. A significant departure from this pattern is revealed by the sedimentary section at the Roman-to-Early Arabic archeological site of Galei Kinneret (in Tiberias). Beach sediments overlying the buildings of the Early Arabic (Ummayad) period suggest a lake rise (to 208 m below mean sea level) at ~700 CE, which contradicts the significant low stand observed in the Dead Sea at the same time, between 600 CE and about 1000 CE. An alternative explanation for the lake sediments above the Arabic structure could be a tectonic subsidence of the local shoreline. Prominent faults that cross the Galei Kinneret site on its eastern side are probably responsible for the cracking and sinking of the Herodian stadium wall. Assuming that the Roman stadium was built above the high-stand level of the Roman time (>208 m bmsl), it appears that the tectonic subsidence of the Roman‐Ummayad structures was more than 4 m. We speculate that such a tectonic subsidence could also be responsible for the disappearance of the Roman harbor of Tiberias.