Convergent strike-slip across the Dead Sea Fault in northern Israel, imaged by high-resolution seismic reflection data

Abstract

Weinberger, R., Schattner, U., Medvedev, B., Frieslander, U., Sneh, A., Harlavan, Y., and Gross, M.R. 2009/2010. Convergent strike–slip across the Dead Sea Fault in northern Israel, imaged by high-resolution seismic reflection data. Isr. J. Earth Sci. 58: 203–216. We combine geological and geophysical observations made along the margin between the Arabian plate and Sinai sub-plate to investigate the style and sequence of deformation associated with motion along the Dead Sea Fault (DSF). Our analysis focuses on one of the youngest rock units—the Pleistocene Hazbani Basalt. Integration of field mapping, K-Ar dating, and interpretation of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles yields a map of the top surface of the Hazbani Basalt, which highlights the architecture of faulting and folding. Results attest to a dominance of both contractional structures and strike–slip faulting along the northwestern rim of the Hula basin. Our new find ings show how a series of faults extend from within the boundaries of an extensional basin and beyond its margins, and are associated with the formation of positive flower structures. The structural analysis provides evidence for a transition from an early (pre-Pleistocene) phase of almost pure strike–slip to a late (Pleistocene) phase of convergent strike–slip faulting. Many of the faults investigated in this study displace the Pleistocene Hazbani Basalt and the overlying sediments and should thus be considered as potential active faults for seismic hazard assessments.