Slow rates of change in the natural and steppe landscape of northern Syria during the Holocene

This geomorphological study of the Jabbul lake region shows that landscape change was very slow during middle and late Holocene times. An intense erosional episode occurred at the beginning of the Holocene associated with the climatic phase known as "Holocene climatic optimum" (between 9000 yr BP and 7000 yr BP). It was followed by a decrease in morphogenic activity. Brief erosional episodes followed during the Middle Bronze (2100 to 1600 BC) Roman (64 BC to 395 AD) and Byzantine (395 to 636 AD) periods. These lower intensity episodes generated pebble terraces that are sometimes thick but in each case occupy a very narrow belt in river channels. Furthermore, the general phenomenon of soil erosion observed in the Mediterranean basin, from the Roman period to the early Middle Ages, is unknown here. Reasons given for this are the pattern of mountain topography in northern Syria, which explains the limited rainfall, and the widespread occurrence of resistant bedrock. However, extensive agricultural slope terracing during the Roman and Byzantine periods also assisted in mitigating soil erosion.