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Integrated 3D density modelling and segmentation of the Dead Sea Transform

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An Erratum to this article was published on 18 July 2006

Abstract

A 3D interpretation of the newly compiled Bouguer anomaly in the area of the “Dead Sea Rift” is presented. A high-resolution 3D model constrained with the seismic results reveals the crustal thickness and density distribution beneath the Arava/Araba Valley (AV), the region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba/Elat. The Bouguer anomalies along the axial portion of the AV, as deduced from the modelling results, are mainly caused by deep-seated sedimentary basins (D > 10 km). An inferred zone of intrusion coincides with the maximum gravity anomaly on the eastern flank of the AV. The intrusion is displaced at different sectors along the NNW–SSE direction. The zone of maximum crustal thinning (depth 30 km) is attained in the western sector at the Mediterranean. The southeastern plateau, on the other hand, shows by far the largest crustal thickness of the region (38–42 km). Linked to the left lateral movement of approx. 105 km at the boundary between the African and Arabian plate, and constrained with recent seismic data, a small asymmetric topography of the Moho beneath the Dead Sea Transform (DST) was modelled. The thickness and density of the crust suggest that the AV is underlain by continental crust. The deep basins, the relatively large intrusion and the asymmetric topography of the Moho lead to the conclusion that a small-scale asthenospheric upwelling could be responsible for the thinning of the crust and subsequent creation of the Dead Sea basin during the left lateral movement. A clear segmentation along the strike of the DST was obtained by curvature analysis: the northern part in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea is characterised by high curvature of the residual gravity field. Flexural rigidity calculations result in very low values of effective elastic lithospheric thickness (t e < 5 km). This points to decoupling of crust in the Dead Sea area. In the central, AV the curvature is less pronounced and t e increases to approximately 10 km. Curvature is high again in the southernmost part near the Aqaba region. Solutions of Euler deconvolution were visualised together with modelled density bodies and fit very well into the density model structures.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the DESERT Working Group at the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) Potsdam for providing “constraining data” and their ongoing interest. In particular we are thankful to D. Kesten, N. Maercklin, J. Mechie, C. Haberland, A. Förster, S. Sobolev, N. Balling (reviewer) and an anonymous reviewer for useful discussions and suggestions, and especially M. Weber, the leader of the DESERT project, for many discussions and his valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. Many thanks to J. Mechie for his careful language editing. R. El-Kelani and M. Rybakov would like to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) Potsdam for financing their sabbatical during this research. We are thankful to the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) of Jordan and the Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) for providing their databases. The gravity research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Abtlg. Geophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Otto-Hahn-Platz 1, 24118, Kiel, Gemany

    H.-J. Götze & S. Schmidt

  2. An-Najah University, Nablus, Palestine

    R. El-Kelani

  3. Geophysical Institute of Israel, Holon, Israel

    M. Rybakov

  4. Natural Resources Authority, Amman, Jordan

    M. Hassouneh

  5. GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, Germany

    H.-J. Förster

  6. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    J. Ebbing

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  1. H.-J. Götze
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Correspondence to H.-J. Götze.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00531-006-0108-4

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Götze, HJ., El-Kelani, R., Schmidt, S. et al. Integrated 3D density modelling and segmentation of the Dead Sea Transform. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 96, 289–302 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-006-0095-5

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