A large-scale radial pattern of seismogenic slumping towards the Dead Sea Basin

Geoffrey Ian Alsop, Shmulik Marco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

68 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although it has been tacitly assumed that slump folds bear a systematic and meaningful relationship to the slope upon which they were presumably created, there has in reality been very little attempt to objectively verify this association via the collection of regional slump data in a relatively controlled setting. The Late Pleistocene Lisan Fm. outcropping to the west of the Dead Sea contains superb examples of sedimentary slump folds that systematically face (>95%) and verge (>90%) towards the east. This study employs and evaluates five different statistical techniques in order to analyse relationships between the orientation of slump folds and palaeoslopes. We recognise for the first time that the direction of slumping inferred from soft sediment folds and thrusts varies systematically along the entire ~100 km length of the western Dead Sea Basin. SE-directed slumping is preserved in the north, easterly-directed slumping in the central portion and NE-directed slumping at the southern end of the Dead Sea. They are interpreted to form part of a large-scale and newly recognised radial slump system directed towards the depocentre of the precursor to the Dead Sea, and to be triggered by earthquakes associated with seismicity along the Dead Sea transform.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)99-110
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of the Geological Society
Volume169
Issue number1
Early online date2 Jan 2012
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2012

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