Mohammad Atallah

Late Pleistocene and Holocene slip rate of the Northern Wadi Araba fault, Dead Sea Transform, Jordan

The Wadi Araba Valley is a morphotectonic depression along part of theDead Sea Transform (DST) plate boundary that separates the Arabian plateon the east from the Sinai subplate on the west. The Wadi Araba fault(WAF) is the main strike-slip faults one of between the Gulf of Aqaba and the E-Wtrending Khunayzira (Amatzayahu) fault that bounds the southern end ofthe Dead Sea. Just south of the Dead Sea, the WAF cuts across severalgenerations of alluvial fans that formed on tributaries to the Wadi Dahalafter the regression of Late Pleistocene Lake Lisan ca. 15 ka. Geomorphicand stratigraphic evidence of active faulting, including left-laterally offsetstream channels and alluvial-fan surfaces, yielded fault slip-rate data for thenorthern segment of WAF. Typical cumulative displacements of 54 m,39 m, and 22.5 m of stream channels and alluvial-fan surfaces acrossthe fault were measured from detailed geologic and topographic mapping.The 54 m offset of the oldest alluvial-fan surface (Qf1) occurredafter the final lowering of Lake Lisan (16–15 ka) and before 11 ka yieldinga slip-rate range of 3.4 mm/yr to 4.9 mm/yr. Based on radiocarbonages of charcoal and landsnail shell samples from the buried Qf2alluvial-fan deposits exposed in trenches excavated across the fault, the39 m and 22.5 m offsets occurred after 9 ka and 5.8 ka, respectively. These data yield a slip-rate range between 3.9 mm/yr and 6.0 mm/yr.The small variability in these slip-rate estimates for different time periodssuggests that the northern Wadi Araba fault has maintained a relativelyconstant slip rate in the past 15 ka. We calculate an average slip rate of 4.7± 1.3 mm/yr since 15 ka based on the three separate displacementsand age estimates. Five separate offsets of 3 m were measured from gullybends and the offset of small fault-scarp alluvial fans. These displacementdata suggest a coseismic slip of 3 m in the last earthquake, or acumulative slip of 3 m in the past few earthquakes. A maximum slip of3 m correspond to a Mw 7 earthquake that ruptures about 49 km offault length. Using an average slip rate of 4.7 ± 1.3 mm/yr togetherwith a 3-m slip-per-event suggests a maximum earthquake recurrence intervalof this fault segment of 500 to 885 years.

Tectonic evolution of northern Wadi Araba, Jordan

Abstract In the area east of northern Wadi Araba several phases of tectonic fracturing can be distinguished. The oldest is of Precambrian age and is represented by a system of dikes. A second, pre-Cretaceous, tectonic phase is represented by a distinct joint system, which is restricted to the Cambrian sediments and has not cut the Cretaceous sediments. The major tectonic movements which lead to the formation of the Dead Sea rift produced faults and joint systems which cut all rock sequences. The major deformation of the area started in the early Tertiary, when the accumulation of the SE-NW directed compressive stresses produced fold structures which are older than the rift movements. As a result of this stress a conjugate system of fractures was produced; ESE-trending right-lateral (antithetic) faults and SSE-trending left-lateral (synthetic) faults. A major group of tensional faults and fractures, trending 130°, was produced due to this compression. The major displacement along the rift followed the formation of the above mentioned faults. These fault systems dissected the area into different blocks. As the compression continued, the faults and the blocks between them were rotated relative to each other. Two phases of rotational movements were recorded, contemporaneous with the two phases of the rift formation. During its northward movement, the Arabian plate came into collision with the Sinai-Palestine plate in the Dahal area in northern Wadi Araba. Various indications prove that the Wadi Araba fault is still active and the northward displacement of the Arabian plate along this fault continues in recent time.

Stress analysis of NW Jordan: New episode of tectonic rejuvenation related to the Dead Sea transform fault

We performed a stress analysis based on fault-slip data for two of the main geological structures in NW Jordan; the Amman-Hallabat (AHF) and Shueib (SHF) faults. Both structures formed in Cretaceous times under E-W to ESE-WNW maximum compressive stress and have been considered inactive in Neogene and Quaternary times. We have collected data from 14 field stations in the area between the Dead Sea and the cities of Amman and Al Salt. This dataset comprises about 306 fault-slip data that include fault orientations and kinematics, striations, and joints. With the aid of the software T-TECTO 3.0, we have obtained the main stress axes for each station. Our results suggest that most of the structures are coherent with the present-day stress pattern associated with the Dead Sea fault system. In most of the field stations, new striations clearly overprint the older ones. Present-day stress field in the region has horizontal to sub-horizontal maximum and minimum compressive axes (σ1 and σ3), striking NNW-SSE and ENE-SWS, respectively, and a vertical intermediate stress axis (σ2). These new findings suggest a rejuvenation of the AHF and the SHF in the Quaternary in the context of the Dead Sea transform fault tectonic activity.