A continental inland basin extended in northern Israel and the southwest Golan Heights during the Neogene. Sedimentation of carbonates, marls, and evaporites was accompanied by massive basalt flows and by minor marine ingressions. The latter were recognized in restricted areas of the eastern Lower Galilee and the Kinnerot basin, herein termed together as the SE Galilee basin. This study aims to establish a detailed chronostratigraphic framework for ∼5 m.y. of sedimentation between the top of the latest middle Miocene Lower Basalt unit and the base of the earliest Pliocene Cover Basalt unit in the SE Galilee basin, where stratigraphic exposure and lithologic variability are maximized. Data from five outcrop sections, two boreholes, and 27 ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of volcanic rocks were used. The upper Lower Basalt was eroded from tectonically uplifted blocks. Erosion products mixed with pyroclasts were deposited in structural lows between ca. 12 and 10 Ma, forming the Umm Sabune Formation. A gradual lithological transition to the overlying well-bedded lacustrine/lagoonal Bira Formation occurred between ca. 11 and 10 Ma. The transition to the overlying freshwater Gesher Formation occurred at ca. 7 Ma, around the Tortonian-Messinian boundary; hence, the gypsum beds at this transition predated the Messinian salinity crisis. The Cover Basalt flows started between 5.1 and 4.6 Ma at different locations, contemporaneously with the deposition of the upper part of the Gesher Formation and the Fejjas Tuff unit. A newly discovered unit of conglomerates and paleosols is considered to be the continental equivalent of Messinian salinity crisis evaporite deposition. This chronostratigraphic framework provides a basis for comparison with other similar late Neogene continental basins in the Levant and for the recognition on land of the Tortonian-Messinian boundary and the impact of the Messinian salinity crisis around the Mediterranean.

Archaeological structures are often filled with sediments and may serve as effective dust traps. The physical parameters and chemical composition of archaeological soils in hilltop ruins, ancient runoff-collecting terraces, and cleanout spoils of cisterns were determined in the Petra region in southern Jordan and the Northern Negev in Israel. Different types of ruins are characterized by certain soil structures, but could not be distinguished with regard to substrate composition. This reflects a predominance of aeolian processes for primary sedimentation, while fluvial processes seem to only re-distribute aeolian material. In the Petra region, the physical and chemical properties of all archaeological soils show a significant local contribution from associated weathered rocks. Compared to modern settled dust, archaeological soils in Southern Jordan are enriched with various major and trace elements associated with clays and oxide coatings of fine silt particles. This seems connected with preferential fixation of silt and clay by surface crusts, and a role of moisture in sedimentation processes as calcareous silt was found to be deposited in greater amounts when associated with precipitation. In contrast, the contribution of rocks is negligible in the Negev due to greater rock hardness and abundant biological crusts that seal surfaces. Archaeological soils in the Negev are chemically similar to current settled dust, which consists of complex mixtures of local and remote sources, including significant portions of recycled material from paleosols. Archaeological soils are archives of Holocene dust sources and aeolian sedimentation processes, with accretion rates exceeding those of Pleistocene hilltop loess in the Negev. Comparison with Pleistocene paleosols suggests that dust sources did not change significantly, but disappearance of snow could have reduced dust accumulation during the Holocene.