HR: 11:20h
AN: T42B-05 [Abstracts]
TI: GPS measurements of present day crustal deformation within the Lebanese restraining bend
along the Dead Sea Fault System
AU: * Jaafar, R
EM: rhj6w4@mizzou.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, 101 Geology Building
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
AU: Gomez, F
EM: fgomez@missouri.edu
AF: Department of Geological Sciences, 101 Geology Building
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States
AU: Abdallah, C
EM: chadi@cnrs.edu.lb
AF: Lebanese National Center for Remote Sensing, Lebanese National Council For Scientific
Research, Beirut, 00000, Lebanon
AU: Karam, G
EM: gkaram@kredo.net
AF: Department of Civil Engineering, Lebanese American University, Jbail, 00000, Lebanon
AU: Reilinger, R
EM: reilinge@erl.mit.edu
AF: Department of Earth, Atmosphere, & Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States
AU: Alchalbi, A
EM: alchalbi@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake Center, Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources,
Damascus, 00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Yassminh, R
EM: yassa@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake Center, Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources,
Damascus, 00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AU: Daoud, M
EM: m-daoud@scs-net.org
AF: Syrian National Earthquake Center, Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources,
Damascus, 00000, Syrian Arab Republic
AB:
The Lebanese restraining bend is a 200 km long bend with a left lateral sense of slip located along the Dead Sea
fault system (DSFS) between 33.2 and 34.6 degrees north latitude. The DSFS is a transform plate boundary fault
system accommodating the differential northward movement of Arabian and Sinai plates relative to the Eurasian
plate. Within the Lebanese Restraining bend, The DSFS splays into several major left-lateral strike-slip faults,
forming a positive flower structure. This study combines GPS measurements from Lebanon where surveys span
for about 5.5 years with sites from the Anti Lebanon Mountains in SW Syria for a more complete view of crystal
deformation in the Restraining bend. The GPS network includes Continuous GPS sites and 27 campaign sites:
14 sites in Lebanon installed in 2002, 8 sites in Lebanon installed in 2005, and 5 sites in southwestern Syria.
Preliminary velocities for older campaign sites have uncertainties less than 1 mm/yr, whereas newer sites have
around 1.5 mm/yr uncertainties. The improved spatial coverage and reduced uncertainties allow constructing
elastic fault models that explore strain partitioning between two strike slip faults (representing the Yammouneh
and Serghaya faults) and a generalized thrust fault to accommodate convergence in the Restraining bend.
Preliminary velocities suggest around 4 – 4.5 mm/yr along the Yammouneh fault. This study provides an
essential tool for assessing tool for assessing the seismic hazard in the vicinity of the Lebanese restraining bend.
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: 8002 Continental neotectonics (8107)
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting