Abstract
Geomorphic and sedimentologic field studies and analyses of LANDSAT
5 images and topographic maps indicate 15 km of left-lateral displacement
of a Pliocene large stream and alluvial fans along the Dead Sea transform
in southern Israel and Jordan. In the central Arava valley, a rift
valley located along the transform, there is a notable discrepancy
between the number and location of the feeding drainage basins within
the eastern margins of the Arava valley and those of the alluvial
fans and the cross-rift large stream. A few of these large alluvial
fans lack any feeding drainage basin. Furthermore, east of the large
stream there is no drainage basin that could have fed it. These discrepancies
between the physiography, locations, sizes, and lithological compositions
of the feeding drainage basins and of the alluvial fans can be explained
by 15 km of left-lateral movement since the Late Pliocene or the
Early Pleistocene along the Arava-Dead Sea segment of the transform.
This is one of the largest displacements of a landform and surficial
alluvial deposit in the world. However, the resulting average long-term
rate of movement is relatively small (0.3-0.75 cm/year).
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