Seismic behaviour of the Dead Sea fault along Araba valley, Jordan

Autor: L. Dorbath, Jean Philippe Avouac, N. Tisnerat, N. Abou Karaki, Yann Klinger
Přispěvatelé: Institut de physique du globe de Strasbourg (IPGS), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de géophysique, CEA, IRD, 213, rue Lafayette F 75380 Paris cedex 10 France, Department of Environmental and Applied Geology (DEAG), The University of Jordan (JU), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Université Paris-Saclay-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie (GEOTRAC), Université Paris-Saclay-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2000
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geophysical Journal International
Geophysical Journal International, Oxford University Press (OUP), 2000, 142 (3), pp.769-782. ⟨10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00166.x⟩
Geophysical Journal International, 2000, 142 (3), pp.769-782. ⟨10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00166.x⟩
ISSN: 0956-540X
1365-246X
Popis: International audience; SUMMAR Y The Dead Sea fault zone is a major left-lateral strike-slip fault. South of the Dead Sea basin, the Wadi Araba fault extends over 160 km to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Dead Sea fault zone is known to have produced several relatively large historical earthquakes. However, the historical events are unequally distributed along the fault and only four events have been reported in the Araba valley over the last few thousands of years. Magnitudes estimated from the historical record are probably slightly smaller than that of the Mw ~ 7.3 earthquake that struck the Gulf of Aqaba in 1995. The fault cuts straight across Pleistocene to Holocene alluvium and shows morphologic evidence for essentially pure strike-slip motion. Regional seismic monitoring reveals little micro-seismicity along the fault except around the Dead Sea and Gulf of Aqaba, where the fault splays into complex pull-apart basin fault systems. We have investigated the fault zone at several sites selected from SPOT images and the study of aerial photography. At the site of the now destroyed Tilah Castle, a well-preserved wall, dated to be about 1200 yr BP (14C age on charcoal), is cut by the fault and offset by 2.2 m. Comparison with offset gullies at a nearby site 3 km to the north and at three other sites, respectively 25, 50 and 65 km to the south, reveals that this specific fault displacement is probably related to the last seismic event that ruptured that fault segment, possibly in AD 1458.Moreover, the offset gullies suggest a characteristic slip behaviour with recurring slip of about 1.5 m on average. Given the 4 ± 2 mm yr−1 slip rate derived for this fault segment, we infer that the fault should produce Mw 7 earthquakes along some segment in the Araba valley about every 200 years. The historical period, with only four well-documented large earthquakes in AD 1068, AD 1212, AD 1293 and AD 1458, thus appears to have been relatively quiescent, with a 20 per cent deficit of Mw 7 earthquakes. However, our data do not exclude the possibility of larger Mw 7.6 earthquakes or time clustering of earthquakes over longer timespans. An alternative seismic behaviour involves Mw 7.6 earthquakes about every 6000 years and Mw 7 earthquakes about every 250 years. The historical catalogue would then appear to be complete for Mw ~ 7 earthquakes.
Databáze: OpenAIRE