A kink in the plate boundary, rotation and transtension: new 4d insights into the tectonics of the southern Dead Sea Transform

The southern Dead Sea Transform (SDST) is an active left-lateral transform plate boundary that extends from the Sinai triple junction to the Lebanon restraining bend, separating the Arabian and Sinai plates. In this study, we analyze structural variations along the SDTS, and reproduce these variations in a 4D analogue model.  

From south to north, the structural styles along the SDTS indicate (1) rotational transtension within the Gulf of Aqaba, (2) pure strike-slip in Wadi Araba and Jordan River valley, and (3) pull-apart basins in the Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee and Hula basin. These different structural styles were replicated experimentally in an analogue model incorporating transtension with minor rotation along a kinked plate boundary. Our 4D model produced a deep southern depression with en echelon faults corresponding to the Gulf of Aqaba, a simple strike-slip fault system without vertical displacement reflecting the Wadi Araba and Jordan Valley, and a set of pull-apart basins reminiscent of the Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee and Hula basins. The accurate reproduction of the structural styles along this 600km-long plate boundary segment constrains the relative movement between the Arabian and Sinai plates to a simple combination of transtension with minor rotation, thereby negating the earlier hypothesis of Euler pole shift during the tectonic evolution of the SDST.