10.6084/m9.figshare.3454880.v1
Michael P. Searle
Michael
P. Searle
Sun-Lin Chung
Sun-Lin
Chung
Ching-Hua Lo
Ching-Hua
Lo
Geological offsets and age constraints along the northern Dead Sea fault, Syria
Geological Society of London
2016
Miocene
1100 m
6.4
plate boundary
rotation
intraplate fault
alkali
fault splays
age constraints
Geological
3.7
depression
datum horizon
movement
Ma
stress field
Tertiary stratigraphy
Mesozoic
transtensional faults
NW Syria
compression
kinematic
initiation
Dead Sea fault
cuts basalts
base Neogene
16.8 km
fault show
Syria cuts
0.1
evidence
5.3
Syria North
Lebanese
Mesyef
Pliocene
Ar
Geology
2016-06-21 12:24:52
Journal contribution
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Geological_offsets_and_age_constraints_along_the_northern_Dead_Sea_fault_Syria/3454880
<p>North of the Lebanese restraining bend, the northern Dead Sea fault in Syria cuts Late Miocene–Pliocene intraplate alkali
basalts that have <sup>40</sup>Ar/<sup>39</sup>Ar ages ranging between 6.4 ± 0.1 and 3.7 ± 0.1 Ma. Despite a wide (40 m) gouge zone in places, only between 5.3 and 16.8
km of Pliocene–Recent left-lateral offset occurs along the segment south of Mesyef, where up to 1100 m of down-to-the-east
throw has been measured using the base Neogene volcanic rocks as a datum horizon. Although theoretically possible, there is
no geological evidence for pre-Pliocene movement along the fault in NW Syria. The fault splays into two transtensional faults
bounding the Pliocene Al-Ghab depression and cuts basalts dated at 4.0–3.7 Ma. The minor lateral geological offsets and matching
of Mesozoic and Tertiary stratigraphy across the fault show that the northern Dead Sea fault is not a plate boundary, but
merely an intraplate fault. The kinematics of NW Syria can be related to a dynamically evolving stress field with time from
Miocene NW–SE compression to Pliocene–Recent north–south strike-slip faulting, coupled with minor anti-clockwise rotation,
initiation of the Dead Sea left-lateral transtensional strike-slip fault and the transtensional Al-Ghab basin.
</p>