Open AccessSeismic zonation of the Dead Sea Transform Fault area
Author(s) -
Kamal Khair,
G. F. Karakaisis,
Eleftheria Papadimitriou
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
annals of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 2037-416X
pISSN - 1593-5213
DOI - 10.4401/ag-3620
Subject(s) - induced seismicity , geology , dead sea , transform fault , seismology , fault (geology) , magnitude (astronomy) , homogeneous , tectonics , plate tectonics , holocene , paleontology , oceanography , physics , astronomy , thermodynamics
The Dead Sea Transform Fault constitutes the northwestern boundary of the Arabian plate, accommodating the plates lateral movement relative to the African plate. A complete and homogeneous catalogue of historical earthquakes has been compiled and used in the subdivision of the fault area into the following segments: 1) Araba segment, which extends along Wadi Araba and the southernmost part of the Dead Sea (29.5°-31.3°N) and trends SSW-NNE with scarce historical and instrumental seismicity; 2) Jordan-valley segment, which extends along the central and northern parts of the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley to the Huleh depression (31.3°-33.1° N) and trends S-N with moderate historical seismicity; 3) Beqaa segment, which extends along the western margin of the Beqaa valley in Lebanon (33.1°-34.5°N) and trends SSW-NNE with strong historical seismicity; 4) El-Ghab segment, which extends along the eastern flank of the coastal mountain range of Syria (34.5°-35.8°N) and trends S-N with moderate historical seismicity; 5) Karasu segment, which extends along the Karasu valley in SE Turkey (35.8°-37.3°N) and trends SSW-NNE, exhibiting the strongest historical seismicity of the area. Probabilities for the generation of strong (M > 6.0) earthquakes in these segments during the next decade are given, by the application of the regional time and magnitude predictable model