GEOMORPHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF INTENSE PREHISTORIC SOIL EROSION IN THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL JORDAN

Soils and alluvial sediments in two wadi systems provide preliminary evidence of intense prehistoric soil erosion in the Plateau of Central Jordan. Magnetic susceptibility, color, secondary carbonate morphology, and soil structure suggest that, at the end of the Pleistocene, red Mediterranean soils (terra rossa soils) extended into areas that today are dry steppes on desert fringes. The chronological correlation between alluvial depositional events and cultural phases in the context of climatic change in the Levant suggests that climatic fluctuations at the end of the Pleistocene, which were characterized by gradual drying and warming, triggered several consecutive cycles of soil erosion. There is also evidence to suggest that the advent of early farming in the early Holocene played an important role in the continuation of soil erosion processes. The results of this preliminary research suggest that studies of ancient soil erosion in this region, red Mediterranean soils are a useful chronological and pedological datum to be correlated with alluvial and colluvial deposits. Key words: soil erosion, alluvial sequences, red Mediterranean soils, Levant, Jordan, Middle East, soil properties.]