The Arava Formation-A Pliocene sequence in the Arava Valley and its western margin, southern Israel

The Arava Formation is a fluvial-lacustrine unit that was deposited throughout the Arava Valley and the southern Negev in the Pliocene, approximately 4-2 m.y. ago. Its areal distribution and the lithological variations reflect the environmental and tectonic evolution of the Negev and the Dead Sea Rift during Late Neogene-Early Pleistocene times. The Arava Formation is subdivided into two members: the Saggi Member. composed mainly of conglomerate, and the Kuntilla Member, which is composed mainly of fine clastics and lacustrine beds. The lacustrine sediments were deposited simultaneously in several lakes developed along the Paran-Neqarot paleo-drainage basin and in the Arava Valley. A minor tectonic phase marks the interval between the deposition of the two members, leaving the paleogeographic configuration of the major basins almost undeformed. The "Arava Conglomerate" of Bentor and Vroman (1957) was found to be the equivalent of the coarse conglomerate facies of the Arava Formation in the northern Arava Valley and its vicinity. The Arava Conglomerate as described by Garfunkel and Horowitz (1966) was found to be the equivalent of the far transported (Paran-Neqarot) facies of the Saggi Member, whereas their HaMeshar Formation was found to correlate with two differents units: the Kuntilla Member of the Arava Formation and the Early Pleistocene Zehiha Formation of Ginat (1997). The Mazzar Formation of Shahar et al. (1966), reported in previous studies on the western margin of the northern Arava Valley, is correlative with the lacustrine facies of the Kuntilla Member in the northern Arava Valley.