HR: 10:50h
AN: T42B-03 [Abstracts]
TI: New GPS observations on fault slip rate and locking depth for the northern Dead Sea Fault System in western Syria: Implications for tectonics and earthquake hazards
AU: * Alchalbi, A
EM: alchalbi@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Damascus,
00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Daoud, M
EM: m-daoud@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Damascus,
00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Gomez, F
EM: fgomez@missouri.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, 101 Geology Building
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
AU: McClusky, S
EM: simon@mit.edu
AF: Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States
AU: Reilinger, R
EM: reilinge@erl.mit.edu
AF: Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States
AU: Abu Romeyeh, M
EM: mohamad.aburomeyeh@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Damascus,
00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Alsouod, A
EM: adham.alsouod@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Damascus,
00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Yassminh, R
EM: yassa@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Damascus,
00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Ballani, B
EM: basel.ballani@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Damascus,
00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Darawcheh, R
EM: rdarawcheh@aec.org.sy
AF: Department of Geology, Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, Damascus, 00000, Syrian
Arab Republic
AU: Sbeinati, R
EM: sbeinati@scs-net.org
AF: Department of Geology, Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, Damascus, 00000, Syrian
Arab Republic
AU: Radwan, Y
EM: ymradwan@scs-net.org
AF: Department of Geology, Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, Damascus, 00000, Syrian
Arab Republic
AU: Al Masri, R
EM: riastat@scs-net.org
AF: Department of Civil Engineering, Damascus University, Damascus, 00000, Syrian Arab
Republic
AU: Bayerly, M
EM: mazbayr@scs-net.org
AF: Department of Geology, Tishreen University, Latakia, 00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Al Ghazzi, R
EM: rawad261@scs-net.org
AF: HIAST, Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, Damascus, 00000, Syrian
Arab Republic
AU: Barazangi, M
EM: mb44@cornell.edu
AF: Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States
AB:
The Dead Sea fault system (DSFS) is the transform plate boundary between the Arabian and Sinai plates in the
eastern Mediterranean region. Along part of the northern DSFS in northwestern Syria, paleoseismic and
historical studies document repeated large earthquakes over the past 2000 years, although the region has not
experienced a large (magnitude > 7) earthquake in more than 800 years. We present new Global Positioning
System (GPS) measurements that provide the first direct observations of near-field deformation associated with
the DSFS in northwestern Syria. A network of 34 stations, including a closely spaced profile across the fault, was
surveyed in 2000 and 2007. Preliminary velocities demonstrate left-lateral shear with 1-sigma uncertainties less
than 1 mm/yr. These velocities are consistent with an elastic dislocation model involving a slip rate of 1.4 – 2.0
mm/yr and a locking depth of 10 – 22 km. This geodetically determined slip rate is less than that reported farther
south along the central section (Lebanese restraining bend) and southern section (Dead Sea and Wadi Araba) of
the transform and consequently requires some deformation to occur away from the transform. One possibility
may be north-south shortening within the southwestern segment of the Palmyride fold belt of central Syria. This
difference in slip rates along the transform is also consistent with differing estimates of total fault slip that have
occurred since the mid Miocene: 20 – 25 km along the northern DSFS versus about 45 km along the southern
DSFS. These new GPS measurements, when viewed alongside the paleoseismic record and the modest level
of present-day seismicity, suggest that the reported recurrence rate of large earthquakes along the northern
section of the DSFS may be overestimated owing to temporal clustering of large historical earthquakes. Hence, a
revised estimate of the earthquake hazard may be needed.
DE: 1209 Tectonic deformation (6924)
DE: 1240 Satellite geodesy: results (6929, 7215, 7230, 7240)
DE: 1242 Seismic cycle related deformations (6924, 7209, 7223, 7230)
DE: 7230 Seismicity and tectonics (1207, 1217, 1240, 1242)
DE: 8107 Continental neotectonics (8002)
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting