Comment on “Unveiling the Transition From Paleolake Lisan to Dead Sea Through the Analysis of Lake Paleoshorelines and Radiometric Dating of Fossil Stromatolites” by Jara-Muñoz et el.

Abstract

Jara-Muñoz et al. report a new set of U-Th and ¹⁴C dates obtained from stromatolites scattered along the western slopes of the Dead Sea escarpment and use them to establish a new lake-level curve for part of the last glacial cycle. This curve is fundamentally different from previous reconstructions (Bartov et al., 2002, 2003; Hazan et al., 2005; Lisker et al., 2009; Machlus et al., 2000; Torfstein, Goldstein, Stein, & Enzel, 2013) and is characterized by very significant vertical uncertainties, which in practice, ignore the millennial-timescale resolution of Lake Lisan dynamics that has been widely discussed before (Bartov et al., 2003; Haase-Schramm et al., 2004; Torfstein, Goldstein, Stein, & Enzel, 2013), with important implications for understanding regional hydroclimate regimes and linkage to global climate engines. The differences between the new and previous lake-level reconstructions warrant a critical evaluation of the new findings. We argue that rather than strengthening and refining the existing body of observations, the new data have been used separately, resulting in a misleading record.