Editing Dead Sea (section)

===Lake salinity===
The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.<ref name=Stein/><ref name="Kafri2010"/>

From 70,000 to 12,000 years ago, Lake Lisan's level was {{convert|100|to|250|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} higher than its current level, possibly due to lower evaporation than in the present.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zech |first1=Roland |last2=Zech |first2=Michael |last3=Marković |first3=Slobodan |last4=Hambach |first4=Ulrich |last5=Huang |first5=Yongsong |date=1 October 2013 |title=Humid glacials, arid interglacials? Critical thoughts on pedogenesis and paleoclimate based on multi-proxy analyses of the loess–paleosol sequence Crvenka, Northern Serbia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018213003568 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=387 |pages=165–175 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.023 |bibcode=2013PPP...387..165Z |access-date=19 November 2022 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120071659/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018213003568 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sorin |first1=Lisker |last2=Anton |first2=Vaks |last3=Miryam |first3=Bar-Matthews |last4=Roi |first4=Porat |last5=Amos |first5=Frumkin |date=May 2010 |title=Late Pleistocene palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Dead Sea area (Israel), based on speleothems and cave stromatolites |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379110000302 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=29 |issue=9–10 |pages=1201–1211 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.01.018 |bibcode=2010QSRv...29.1201S |access-date=19 November 2022 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120071702/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379110000302 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its level fluctuated dramatically, rising to its highest level around 26,000 years ago, indicating a very wet climate in the [[Near East]].<ref name="SocietySociety1971">{{cite book |author1= Geochemical Society |author2= Meteoritical Society |title= Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3LccAQAAIAAJ |access-date= April 12, 2011 |year= 1971 |publisher= Pergamon Press |archive-date= October 30, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231030075942/https://books.google.com/books?id=3LccAQAAIAAJ |url-status= live }}</ref> Around 10,000 years ago, the lake's level dropped dramatically, probably even lower than today. During the last several thousand years, the lake has fluctuated approximately {{convert|400|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}, with some significant drops and rises. Current theories as to the cause of this dramatic drop in levels rule out [[volcano|volcanic activity]]; therefore, it may have been a seismic event.