Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T11:36:29.882Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Drainage system reorganization and late Quaternary tectonic deformation along the southern Dead Sea Transform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2018

Yedidia Gellman ,
A. Matmon ,
Amit Mushkin  and
N. Porat
Yedidia Gellman*
Affiliation:
The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel
A. Matmon
Affiliation:
The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Amit Mushkin
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel
N. Porat
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., Jerusalem 95501, Israel
*
*Corresponding author at: The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Gellman).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Dead Sea Transform (DST) accounts for ~105 km of left-lateral slip between the Arabian plate and the Sinai subplate since the Miocene. Paleoseismic studies along the Arava Valley segment of the DST suggest that late Quaternary deformation has been primarily concentrated along the axis of the transform valley. Here, we examine late Quaternary changes in drainage system characteristics and attribute them to recent tectonic deformation in this region. Field-based geomorphic mapping, topographic cross sections, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of fluvial deposits were used to map and date recent changes in the fluvial characteristics of catchments along the western margin of the southern Arava. Our results reveal coeval migration of channels, consistent with tectonically induced surface tilting caused by north–south compressional deformation along the western margin of the transform valley. OSL dating indicates this tilting was initiated in the late Pleistocene and continued at least into the mid-Holocene. The late Quaternary tectonic deformation along the southern Arava segment of the DST is distributed across a wider zone than previously considered and extends out to the margins of the transform valley. We associate the inferred wider deformation zone to possible changes in the geometry of motion along the DST.

Keywords

Fluvial geomorphologyTectonicsDead Sea TransformArava ValleyOSL dating
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , September 2018 , pp. 380 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aitken, M.J., 1998. An Introduction to Optical Dating: The Dating of Quaternary Sediments by the Use of Photon-Stimulated Luminescence. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Al Tarazi, E., Abu Rajab, J., Gomez, F., Cochran, W., Jaafar, R., Ferry, M., 2011. GPS measurements of near‐field deformation along the southern Dead Sea Fault System. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 12, Q12021.Google Scholar
Ambraseys, N.N., Jackson, J.A., 1998. Faulting associated with historical and recent earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Geophysical Journal International 133, 390–406.Google Scholar
Amiran, D.H., Arieh, E., Turcotte, T., 1994. Earthquakes in Israel and adjacent areas: macroseismic observations since 100 B.C.E. Israel Exploration Journal 44, 260–305.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Enzel, Y., Sharon, D., 2006. Permanent Quaternary hyperaridity in the Negev, Israel, resulting from regional tectonics blocking Mediterranean frontal systems. Geology 34, 509–512.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Harrison, J.B.J., Enzel, Y., Porat, N., 1996. Soils as a tool for estimating ages of Quaternary fault scarps in a hyperarid environment—the southern Arava valley, the Dead Sea Rift, Israel. Catena 28, 21–45.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Zilberman, E., Enzel, Y., Porat, N., 2002. Paleoseismic evidence for time dependency of seismic response on a fault system in the southern Arava Valley, Dead Sea rift, Israel. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 192–206.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Zilberman, E., Porat, N., Enzel, Y., 1999. Relief inversion in the Avrona playa as evidence of large-magnitude historical earthquakes, southern Arava Valley, Dead Sea rift. Quaternary Research 52, 76–91.Google Scholar
Baer, G., Funning, G.J., Shamir, G., Wright, T.J., 2008. The 1995 November 22, Mw 7.2 Gulf of Elat earthquake cycle revisited. Geophysical Journal International 175, 1040–1054.Google Scholar
Bartov, Y., 1974. A Structural and Paleogeographic Study of the Central Sinai Faults and Domes. [In Hebrew, with English abstract.] PhD dissertation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Bartov, Y., 1994. The Geology of the Arava Valley. Israeli Geological Survey Report GSI/4/94, 16. Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Ben-Avraham, Z., Garfunkel, Z., Lazar, M., 2008. Geology and evolution of the southern Dead Sea Fault with emphasis on subsurface structure. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 36, 357–387.Google Scholar
Beyth, M., Eyal, Y., Garfunkel, Z., 2012. Geological Map of the Eilat Sheet. Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Castelltort, S., Goren, L., Willett, S.D., Champagnac, J.-D., Herman, F., Braun, J., 2012. River drainage patterns in the New Zealand Alps primarily controlled by plate tectonic strain. Nature Geoscience 5, 744–748.Google Scholar
Devès, M., King, G.C., Klinger, Y., Agnon, A., 2011. Localised and distributed deformation in the lithosphere: modelling the Dead Sea region in 3 dimensions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 308, 172–184.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Dayan, U., Crouvi, O., Kahana, R., Ziv, B., Sharon, D., 2008. The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts. Global and Planetary Change 60, 165–192.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Grodek, T., Ayalon, A., Lekach, J., Porat, N., Erel, Y., 2012. Late Quaternary weathering, erosion, and deposition in Nahal Yael, Israel: an “impact of climatic change on an arid watershed”? Geological Society of America Bulletin 124, 705–722.Google Scholar
Enzel, Y., Amit, R., Porat, N., Zilberman, E., Harrison, B.J., 1996. Estimating the ages of fault scarps in the Arava, Israel. Tectonophysics 253, 305–317.Google Scholar
Eyal, M., Eyal, Y., Bartov, Y., Steinitz, G., 1981. The tectonic development of the western margin of the Gulf of Elat (Aqaba) rift. Tectonophysics 80, 39–66.Google Scholar
Eyal, Y., 1996. Stress field fluctuations along the Dead Sea rift since the middle Miocene. Techtronics 15, 157–170. Google Scholar
Faershtein, G., Porat, N., Avni, Y., Matmon, A., 2016. Aggradation–incision transition in arid environments at the end of the Pleistocene: an example from the Negev Highlands, southern Israel. Geomorphology 253, 289–304.Google Scholar
Freund, R., Garfunkel, Z., Zak, I., Goldberg, M., Weissbrod, T., Derin, B., 1970. The shear along the Dead Sea rift. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 267, 107–130.Google Scholar
Frieslander, U., 2000. The Structure of the Dead Sea Transform Emphasizing the Arava, Using New Geophysical Data. [In Hebrew.] PhD dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Garfunkel, Z., 1970. The Tectonics of the Western Margins of the Southern Arava. [In Hebrew, with English abstract.] PhD dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Garfunkel, Z., 1981. Internal structure of the Dead Sea leaky transform (rift) in relation to plate kinematics. Tectonophysics 80, 81–108.Google Scholar
Garfunkel, Z., 1988. The pre-Quaternary geology of Israel. Monographiae Biologicae 62, 7–34.Google Scholar
Gellman, Y., 2015. Quaternary Off-Axis Tectonic Deformation along the Southern Arava Segment of the Dead Sea Transform as Expressed by Geomorphic Indicators. Master’s thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Gerson, R., Grossman, S., Amit, R., Greenbaum, N., 1993. Indicators of faulting events and periods of quiescence in desert fluvial fans. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 18, 181–202.Google Scholar
Ginat, H., Beyth, M., Crouvi, O., 2009. Geomorphic evidence for young tectonic activity around Har Timna. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 57, 213–229.Google Scholar
Ginat, H., Enzel, Y., Avni, Y., 1998. Translocated Plio-Pleistocene drainage systems along the Arava fault of the Dead Sea transform. Tectonophysics 284, 151–160.Google Scholar
Guidoboni, E., Comastri, A., 2005. Catalogue of Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Mediterranean Area from the 11th to the 15th Century. SGA, Bologna, Italy.Google Scholar
Haberland, C., Maercklin, N., Kesten, D., Ryberg, T., Janssen, C., Agnon, A., Weber, M., Schulze, A., Qabbani, I., El-Kelani, R., 2007. Shallow architecture of the Wadi Araba fault (Dead Sea Transform) from high-resolution seismic investigations. Tectonophysics 432, 37–50.Google Scholar
Hamiel, Y., Amit, R., Begin, Z.B., Marco, S., Katz, O., Salamon, A., Zilberman, E., Porat, N., 2009. The seismicity along the Dead Sea Fault during the last 60,000 years. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 99, 2020–2026.Google Scholar
Harding, T.P., Vierbuchen, R.C., Christie-Bhck, N., 1985. Structural styles, plate-tectonic settings, and hydrocarbon traps of divergent (transtensional) wrench faults. In: Biddie, K.T., Christie-Blick, N. (Eds.), Strike-Slip Basin Deformation, Basin Formation and Sedimentation. Special Publications of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists 37, 51–77.Google Scholar
Horowitz, A., 1979. The Quaternary of Israel. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Joffe, S., Garfunkel, Z., 1987. Plate kinematics of the circum Red Sea—a re-evaluation. Tectonophysics 141, 5–22.Google Scholar
Klinger, Y., Avouac, J.P., Dorbath, L., Karaki, N.A., Tisnerat, N., 2000. Seismic behaviour of the Dead Sea fault along Araba valley, Jordan. Geophysical Journal International 142, 769–782.Google Scholar
Le Beon, M., Klinger, Y., Amrat, A.Q., Agnon, A., Dorbath, L., Baer, G., Ruegg, J.-C., Charade, O., Mayyas, O., 2008. Slip rate and locking depth from GPS profiles across the southern Dead Sea Transform. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 113, B11403.Google Scholar
Le Béon, M., Klinger, Y., Mériaux, A.S., Al‐Qaryouti, M., Finkel, R.C., Mayyas, O., Tapponnier, P., 2012. Quaternary morphotectonic mapping of the Wadi Araba and implications for the tectonic activity of the southern Dead Sea fault. Tectonics 31, TC5003.Google Scholar
Marco, S., 2007. Temporal variation in the geometry of a strike-slip fault zone: examples from the Dead Sea Transform. Tectonophysics 445, 186–199.Google Scholar
Masson, F., Hamiel, Y., Agnon, A., Klinger, Y., Deprez, A., 2015. Variable behavior of the Dead Sea Fault along the southern Arava segment from GPS measurements. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 347, 161–169.Google Scholar
Matmon, A., Fink, D., Davis, M., Niedermann, S., Rood, D., Frumkin, A., 2014. Unraveling rift margin evolution and escarpment development ages along the Dead Sea fault using cosmogenic burial ages. Quaternary Research 82, 281–295.Google Scholar
Matmon, A., Schwartz, D.P., Finkel, R., Clemmens, S., Hanks, T., 2005. Dating offset fans along the Mojave section of the San Andreas fault using cosmogenic 26Al and 10Be. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 795–807.Google Scholar
Matmon, A., Schwartz, D.P., Haeussler, P.J., Finkel, R., Lienkaemper, J.J., Stenner, H.D., Dawson, T.E., 2006. Denali fault slip rates and Holocene–late Pleistocene kinematics of central Alaska. Geology 34, 645–648.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., 2000. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, 57–73.Google Scholar
Niemi, T.M., Harrison, B.J., Atallah, M., 1997. Preliminary estimate of paleoearthquakes along the northern Wadi Araba Fault, Dead Sea Transform, Jordan. GSA Abstracts with Programs 29, A-131.Google Scholar
Olley, J.M., Pietsch, T., Roberts, R.G., 2004. Optical dating of Holocene sediments from a variety of geomorphic settings using single grains of quartz. Geomorphology 60, 337–358.Google Scholar
Porat, N., 2007. Analytical Procedures in the Luminescence Dating Laboratory. [In Hebrew.] Geological Survey of Israel Technical Report TR-GSI/2/2007. Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Porat, N., Amit, R., Enzel, Y., Zilberman, E., Avni, Y., Ginat, H., Gluck, D., 2010. Abandonment ages of fluvial landforms in the hyperarid Negev determined by luminescence dating. Journal of Arid Environments 74, 861–869.Google Scholar
Porat, N., Duller, G.A.T., Amit, R., Zilberman, E., Enzel, Y., 2009. Recent faulting in the southern Arava, Dead Sea Transform: evidence from single grain luminescence dating. Quaternary International 199, 34–44.Google Scholar
Quennell, A.M., 1958. The structural and geomorphic evolution of the Dead Sea Rift. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 114, 1–24.Google Scholar
Ron, H., Eyal, Y., 1985. Intraplate deformation by block rotation and mesostructures along the Dead Sea transform, northern Israel. Tectonics 4, 85–105.Google Scholar
Schattner, U., Weinberger, R., 2008. A mid-Pleistocene deformation transition in the Hula basin, northern Israel: implications for the tectonic evolution of the Dead Sea Fault. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 9, Q07009.Google Scholar
Sieh, K.E., Jahns, R.H., 1984. Holocene activity of the San Andreas fault at Wallace Creek, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 95, 883–896.Google Scholar
Slater, L., Niemi, T.M., 2003. Ground-penetrating radar investigation of active faults along the Dead Sea Transform and implications for seismic hazards within the city of Aqaba, Jordan. Tectonophysics 368, 33–50.Google Scholar
Stirling, M.W., Wesnousky, S.G., Shimazaki, K., 1996. Fault trace complexity, cumulative slip, and the shape of the magnitude-frequency distribution for strike-slip faults: a global survey. Geophysical Journal International 124, 833–868.Google Scholar
Sylvester, A.G., 1988. Strike-slip faults. Geological Society of America Bulletin 100, 1666–1703.Google Scholar
ten Brink, U.S., Rybakov, M., Al-Zoubi, A.S., Hassouneh, M., Frieslander, U., Batayneh, A.T., Goldschmidt, V., Daoud, M.N., Rotstein, Y., Hall, J.K., 1999. Anatomy of the Dead Sea transform: does it reflect continuous changes in plate motion? Geology 27, 887–890.Google Scholar
Wang, X.L., Wintle, A.G., Lu, Y.C., 2006. Thermally transferred luminescence in fine-grained quartz from Chinese loess: basic observations. Radiation Measurements 41, 649–658.Google Scholar
Wesnousky, S.G., 1988. Seismological and structural evolution of strike-slip faults. Nature 335, 340–343.Google Scholar
Wilcox, R.E., Harding, T.P., Seely, D.R., 1973. Basic wrench tectonics. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 57, 74–96.Google Scholar
Zain Eldeen, U., Delvaux, D., Jacobs, P., 2001. Tectonic evolution in the Wadi Araba segment of the Dead Sea Rift, south-west Jordan. Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series 2, 63–81.Google Scholar
Zilberman, E., Amit, R., Porat, N., Enzel, Y., Avner, U., 2005. Surface ruptures induced by the devastating 1068 AD earthquake in the southern Arava valley, Dead Sea Rift, Israel. Tectonophysics 408, 79–99.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Gellman et al. supplementary material

Gellman et al. supplementary material 1

Download Gellman et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 350.2 KB
Supplementary material: Image

Gellman et al. supplementary material

Gellman et al. supplementary material 2

Download Gellman et al. supplementary material(Image)
Image 2.2 MB
Supplementary material: PDF

Gellman et al. supplementary material

Gellman et al. supplementary material 3

Download Gellman et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 400.8 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Gellman et al. supplementary material

Gellman et al. supplementary material 4

Download Gellman et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 324.4 KB