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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: yedidia.gellman@mail.huji.ac.il (Y. Gellman).
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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 

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