A braided strike-slip model for the northern continuation of the Dead Sea Fault and its implications for Levantine tectonics

Abstract

The assumption that the 100–110 km sinistral displacement on the Dead Sea Fault is transmitted northwards along a single structure, the Yammouneh Fault, which runs NE-SW across Lebanon is here reviewed. A number of valid objections to this concept exist. A more attractive model, supported by the limited data available from the area, is that the motion is transmitted along a number of faults. On this basis the temporary rightward flexure of the Levant Fracture through Lebanon has given rise to a braided strike-slip fault complex, the Yammouneh-Serrhaya Fault System. This model overcomes the objections against the older concept and allows the explanation of the Mt. Lebanon-Bekaa Valley-Anti-Lebanon complex in terms of transpressive and transtensive blocks. A tentative outline of the Cenozoic structural evolution of the area in terms of two or more phases of motion along the Levant Fracture is presented.