The Dead Sea Fault System (DSFS) is one of the largest continental strike-slip faults in the world.  As the transform plate boundary between the Arabian and African plates, the DSFS represents a key tectonic feature in the eastern Mediterranean region.  Despite its significance, the understanding of the DSFS as an active, seismogenic structure is relatively limited, particularly along the central and northern sections of the fault in Syria and Lebanon.  By studying active tectonic processes operating at different time scales along the DSFS in Syria and Lebanon, this research will address several important issues including:

• Whether or not the northern DSFS deformation fully accounts for Arabia-Africa plate motions and, hence, represents the present-day plate boundary.
• How predictions of northward increasing slip rate and fault-normal convergence (suggested by plate tectonic models) are reflected in the DSFS kinematics.
• The role of earthquakes in plate boundary deformation along a major continental transform (the DSFS) including fault segmentation and aseismic strain release.
• The relationship of internal deformation of the adjacent Arabian plate to kinematic variations along the DSFS, and the connection between the DSFS and the Arabian-Eurasian collision.

In order to bridge the gap that typically exists between neotectonic and geodetic/seismological assessments of strain, results of this neotectonic and geodetic work are currently integrated with a lengthy, well documented historical record of large earthquakes (approximately M > 6.5) over at least the past 2,000 years.  Such a lengthy historical record spanning multiple earthquake cycles is generally unavailable along any other major plate boundary and is unique to this region.

To address the issues outlined above, the following is being accomplished:

• Regional mapping of the active branches of the DSFS using all available remote sensing data (including aerial photos and a high-resolution elevation models produced using InSAR) will determine geometric (and possible seismogenic) segments.
• Local neotectonic studies (including the Yammouneh and Ghab branches), involving detailed mapping, surveying fault-related landforms, and paleoseismic investigations, will delimit:  (A)  Long-term rates of fault slip and kinematics (103 – 106 years), (B)  earthquake histories and recurrence over many earthquake cycles (Holocene to present), and (C)  preliminary constraints on past earthquake size.  Historical earthquake data will place further limits on earthquake size and recurrence during the past 2,000 years
• Tectonic geodesy (primarily GPS) in the far-field and near-field will determine: (A)  Short-term rates of fault slip and kinematics (several years), and (B)  assess possible aseismic slip vs. strain accumulation.

Integrating and modeling neotectonic, geodetic, and historical data for the DSFS will provide new insight on the kinematics and dynamics of the DSFS with broader implications for active strike-slip faults, in general.   Furthermore, the results of this study will have significance for regional earthquake hazard in Syria and Lebanon, as well as neighboring countries, where large, rapidly expanding populations heighten the need for accurate earthquake  hazard assessments.

This collaborative study builds upon past and ongoing joint research involving Cornell, University of Missouri (Columbia), MIT, IPG Strasbourg, and Syrian and Lebanese institutions.

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For questions or comments, please contact Muawia Barazangi: mb44@cornell.edu.

Last updated: August 2006