Lake Kinneret Watershed—Landscape Heterogeneity and Human Impact

The 2700 km2 Lake KinneretLake Kinneret drainage basin exemplifies the diversity and complexity of the Mediterranean climate physiographic region. It is characterized by highly variable geology, geomorphology, soils, climate, vegetation and land use. Human activityHuman activity proved to be the main factor affecting changes in this environment. This chapter deals with erosion forms and processes, as reflected in the fluvial system morphology. The effects of erosion are of major environmental concern in Mediterranean climate areas, which are characterized by relatively high sediment yields, although rates of erosion variate depending on climatic, physiographic and human factors. The long dry Mediterranean summer is dominated by a dry, high-pressure cell which in winter retreats to allow a series of cold fronts to cross the eastern Mediterranean from the west sea. The Kinneret drainage basin is semiarid (P/ETP = 0.20–0.50). The average rainfall is 700 mm and the evapotranspiration ETP = 1600 mm (P/ETP = 0.41). Only the mountainous areas receive more than 800 mm rainfall and have a subhumid climate. Nine landscape sub-units reflect. The geodiversityGeodiversity and heterogeneity of the Lake Kinneret watershed, characterizing a “mosaic” type of land. This region has a continuous and old history of human presence since early Paleolithic period, but the major effects in the environment occurred in historic times and has been exacerbated in the last decades.