THE DEAD-SEA TRANSFORM-FAULT SYSTEM

A new map showing the major features of the Dead Sea transform fault system based on seismicity, satellite imagery, geological maps and bathymetric charts is presented. Special attention is given to the possible northward continuation of the transform system beneath the Mediterranean Sea near Ed Damur, south of Beirut. The map shows the Dead Sea transform system to be a series of offset, overlapping, left-lateral transform faults with a rhombochasm between each pair. The system has similarities with the equatorial fracture zones in the Atlantic Ocean. Throughout, the Dead Sea transform system is considered in its regional setting, i.e. as extending from the Red Sea spreading centre in the south to the Eurasian collision zone in the north. It is suggested that it may intersect the latter somewhere east of Cyprus making that area the northernmost termination of the Dead Sea transform system. © 1990.