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New evidence on the accurate displacement along the Arava/Araba segment of the Dead Sea Transform

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Abstract

The sinistral displacement along the Dead Sea Transform (DST), the plate boundary between the African and the Arabian plates, south of the Dead Sea basin, was previously attributed to two main fault zones: the Arava/Araba or Dead Sea fault and the Feinan or Al Quwayra fault zone. This was based on similarities of features on either side of the Araba Valley. In particular, the Timna and the Feinan copper mines, located north of the Themed and Dana faults, and the onlap of the Cambrian formations southward onto the Amram rhyolite and Ahyamir volcanics. To these we add a more accurate offset indicator in the form of an offset Early Cambrian (532 Ma) dolerite dyke previously mapped in Mount Amram (Israel) on the African plate and recently discovered across the Araba Valley in Jabal Sumr al Tayyiba (southwest Jordan) on the Arabian plate. This dolerite dyke is ~ 20 m thick, strikes N50°E and is the only dyke intruding the Jabal Sumr al Tayyiba pink rhyolite flows of the Ahyamir Volcanics. Geochemical and geochronological correlations between the Jabal Sumr al Tayyiba dolerite dyke and the Mount Amram dolerite dyke demonstrate 85 km of sinistral offset across the Arava/Araba fault. Our results also suggest approximately 109 km of combined sinistral displacement across the Arava/Araba and Feinan faults based on petrological correlations between the Timna and Jabal Hanna igneous complexes on the African and Arabian plates, respectively. This constrains the total sinistral displacement of the Feinan fault and its accessory faults to be 24 km.

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Fig. 1

(modified from Sneh et al. 1998) presenting Neoproterozoic outcrops, lithostratigraphic groups and main faults along both side of the Araba fault. GA Gulf of Aqaba, DSB Dead Sea basin, TF Themed fault, FF Feinan fault zone, AQF Al Quwayra fault zone, DF Dana fault, AmF Amazyahu fault, WN Wadi Namla. Geologic structures that were shifted by the transform system and are discussed in the present paper are: Timna igneous complex and Jabal Hanna circled and marked by I and I’, respectively; Amram igneous complex and Jabal Sumr al Tayyiba marked by squares and labeled II and II’, respectively. c Key for the map in b

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Acknowledgements

We thank Gerard Stamfli, Rob Butler and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments and review, as well as the editors Wolf-Christian Dullo and Mark Handy. We acknowledge Ran Calvo, Navot Morag and Alan Matthews for insightful comments. We thank Matt Heizler from the Geochronology Research Laboratory New Mexico for Argon dating, and A. Borshevsky and M. Rosensaft for their assistance with GIS data processing. This project was supported by the Ministry of Regional Cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel, 95501, Jerusalem, Israel

    M. Beyth, A. Sagy & A. Mushkin

  2. Green Sahara, P.O. Box 142905, Amman, 11814, Jordan

    H. Hajazi & S. Alkhraisha

  3. The Dead Sea and the Arava Science Center, Kibutz Ketura M.P Hevel Eilot, 8840, Kibutz Ktura, Israel

    H. Ginat

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  1. M. Beyth
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  2. A. Sagy
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Correspondence to M. Beyth.

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Beyth, M., Sagy, A., Hajazi, H. et al. New evidence on the accurate displacement along the Arava/Araba segment of the Dead Sea Transform. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 107, 1431–1443 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-017-1549-7

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