Dead Sea Transform? Anyone please explain if you know?

To address one of the central questions of plate tectonics - How do large transform

systems work and what are their typical features? - geophysical investigations across

the Dead Sea Transform (DST), the boundary between the African and Arabian plates

in the Middle East, were conducted for the first time and combined with 2.5 and 3D

thermo-mechanical modelling. One major component of these investigations are seismic

and seismological surveys across the Dead Sea Transform. Main results of this

study indicate that the DST cuts through the entire crust, that strong lower crustal reflectors

are imaged only on one side of the DST, that the seismic velocity sections

show a steady increase in the depth of the crust Moho from 26 km at the Mediterranean

to 39 km under the Jordan highlands, with only a small but visible, asymmetric

topography of the Moho under the DST. The SKS splitting study demonstrate that a

distinct narrow (30 km wide) vertical zone in the mantle exists under the DST with the

seismic anisotropy consistent with the shear deformation between decoupled, Arabian

and the African plates.

These observations are replicated and integrated by the extended 2D (2.5D) thermomechanical

numerical model focused on lithospheric-scale deformation at the DST.

This model demonstrates that all these observations can be linked to the left-lateral

movement of 105 km of the two plates in the last 17 Ma, accompanied by strong deformation

within a 20-30 km wide zone cutting through the entire crust and mantle

lithosphere. The modelling results also clearly indicate that the DST in the Arava Valley

is almost pure strike-slip boundary with less than 4 km of transform-perpendicular

extension (rifting deformation component). The preliminary results of the 3D thermomechanical

model, which incorporates the Dead Sea basin, shows that even this small

rifting component may be unnecessary to explain observed crustal structure.

It is called the Dead Sea Rift. The Great Rift Valley faultline runs through part of the Dead Sea region and the Mount of Olives. A major earthquake has struck the Dead Sea Basin roughly every 100 years, and seismologists believe that the next big earthquake is overdue. They have warned that Israel is not prepared to deal with the aftermath of such an event, which could leave up to 16,000 dead and thousands more homeless.

no more coffee you need a nap...