Transient salt transport modeling of shallow brine beneath a freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee, Israel

During a lake highstand phase in the late Pleistocene the former saline Lak e Lisan covered the topographic depression of Kinarot Basin currently occup ied by the freshwater lake, Sea of Galilee. It was hypothesized that during this period, the dense saline waters of Lake Lisan percolated into the sed iment. The recession of the saline lake from the basin and the rapid format ion of a freshwater lake triggered solute transport from the sediment into the lake. A one-dimensional numerical model of solute transport that consid ers sediment compaction was developed to simulate chloride transport from t he sediment into the lake. Simulation results were compared with measured c hloride concentration profiles in sediment cores. On the basis of a sensiti vity analysis, results are in agreement with the hypothesis that Lake Lisan solutes are currently discharged into the Sea of Galilee. The calculated u pward water velocity in the sediment ranges between 9 and 22 mm yr(-1).