Active crustal shortening in NE Syria revealed by deformed terraces of the River Euphrates |
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| Authors: | Mohammad Abou Romieh Rob Westaway Mohamad Daoud Yousef Radwan Rayan Yassminh Ahlam Khalil Abeer Al‐Ashkar Susan Loughlin Katherine Arrell David Bridgland |
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| Institution: | 1. National Earthquake Center, Rasheed Karameh Street, Al‐Adawi, Damascus, Syria;2. MCT, The Open University, Abbots Hill, Gateshead NE8 3DF, UK, also at IRES, Newcastle University, Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne NE1 7RU, UK;3. Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, Damascus, Syria;4. Department of Geology, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria;5. Present address: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France;6. British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, UK;7. Department of Geography, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK;8. Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK |
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| Abstract: | The Africa–Arabia plate boundary comprises the Red Sea oceanic spreading centre and the left‐lateral Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ); however, previous work has indicated kinematic inconsistency between its continental and oceanic parts. The Palmyra Fold Belt (PFB) splays ENE from the DSFZ in SW Syria and persists for ～400 km to the River Euphrates, but its significance within the regional pattern of active crustal deformation has hitherto been unclear. We report deformation of Euphrates terraces consistent with Quaternary right‐lateral transpression within the PFB, indicating anticlockwise rotation (estimated as 0.3° Ma?1 about 36.0°N 39.8°E) of the block between the PFB and the northern DSFZ relative to the Arabian Plate interior. The northern DSFZ is shown to be kinematically consistent with the combination of Euler vectors for the PFB and the Red Sea spreading, resolving the inconsistency previously evident. The SW PFB causes a significant earthquake hazard, previously unrecognized, to the city of Damascus. |
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