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Structural control of sinkholes and subsidence hazards along the Jordanian Dead Sea coast

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

For about four decades, the Dead Sea (DS) level and the surrounding water table has been dropping dramatically. At least from the eighties, the direct vicinity of the Lisan Peninsula (LP), Jordan, has been facing high rates of subsidence and sinkhole hazards. Between 2000 and 2002, the Arab Potash Company (APC) lost two salt evaporation ponds resulting in a loss of $70 million. In the fertile plain of Ghor al Haditha (GAH), three deep and wide bowl-shaped subsidence areas threaten human activities and infrastructures. Over the part of the Lisan Peninsula that emerged before the 1960s, relict fossil sinkholes occurred everywhere, whereas new collapses constantly appear in the southern area only. In this paper, we have integrated 15 years of field observations related to sinkholes and subsidence with interpretation of space borne radar interferometric outputs, aerial photographs and satellite images. This has helped to place hazardous areas in their geological context and to clarify them within the framework of the general tectonic setting of the area.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Prof. Najib Abou Karaki from the University of Jordan for fruitful discussions, photographic documents and critical reading of the manuscript. We used astronaut photographs of Earth acquired on 2003–02–23 (ISS006-E-30989; ISS006-E-30990; ISS006-E-30991; ISS006-E-30992; ISS006-E-30993; ISS006-E-30994) and on 2002–02 (STS099–705–4). Images are courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov). The Royal Military Academy of Belgium supports the author’s work.

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    Damien Closson

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  1. Damien Closson
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Closson, D. Structural control of sinkholes and subsidence hazards along the Jordanian Dead Sea coast. Env Geol 47, 290–301 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1155-4

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