Tectonic Analysis of the Tall Al Qarn Pressure Ridge, Dead Sea Transform Fault, Jordan

Abstract

Jordan's Dead Sea Transform is made up of three morphotectonic elements: Wadi Araba, Dead Sea Basin, and Jordan Valley. A few pressure ridges and depressions exist in the Jordan Valley Fault. Among these, the Tall Al Qarn pressure ridge is one of the active Dead Sea Transform's morphotectonic features. Stratigraphically, the Waqqas (Miocene), Ghor Al Katar (Early Pleistocene), and Lisan (Late Pleistocene) Formations constitute the rock outcrops in the study area. The ridge was created when the sinistral strike-slip fault of the Jordan Valley bent rightward. The major structures include the Waqqas and Ghor Al Katar inclined beds, the NW-SE oriented normal and NE-SW reverse faults and the ESE-WNW oriented dextral strike-slip faults. Faults and folds indicate a local NW-SE compressional stress caused by the sinistral Jordan Valley Fault's right bending. The steeply dipping Ghor Al Katar strata, which are overlain by the horizontal Lisan beds, display a prominent angular unconformity. Many horizontal Lisan beds exhibit abundant synsedimentary deformational features, indicating the energetic seismic activity at that time.