Neotectonics at the Arabian plate margins |
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| Institution: | 1. Council for Geoscience, P.O. Box 572, Bellville 7535, South Africa;2. Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands;3. Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa;1. Department of Maritime Civilizations, Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences and the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies (RIMS), University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel;2. University of California, Los Angeles, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, La Kretz Hall, Suite 300, Box 951496, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1496, USA;3. University of Leipzig, Institute for Geophysics and Geology, Talstrasse 35, 04103 Leipzig, Germany;4. University of Hamburg, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Institute for Geology, Bundesstrasse 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany;5. Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Yisrael, Jerusalem 95501, Israel |
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| Abstract: | Opening of the Red Sea is accompanied by convergence between the Arabian plate and Eurasia. Regional topography and structure favour gravity glide as the main driving force of plate translation. At the leading edge of the plate, the Zagros Mountains undergo coseismic serial folding which is equivalent to Holocene shortening by ～20 mm/year and which has led to major episodes of coastal uplift of which the last was ～1700 years BP. At the Jordan Rift transform, which bounds the Arabian plate on the west, a recurrence interval of ～1600 years is reported for events of ML≥5.5. The palaeomagnetic record for the last 3.2 Ma indicates an average spreading rate for the Red Sea of ～20 mm/year; there is some evidence that hydrothermal activity in the Red Sea is pulsatory, with a period of ～2000 year, and that it reflects discontinuous spreading. The Holocene neotectonic records of the Zagros, the Jordan Rift and the Red Sea are the product of complex plate interactions and of the accumulation and release of strain in the crust along the plate margins. But they also reflect elastic strain energy storage and release within the Arabian plate, whence parallels in the period of major deformation episodes in the three deforming zones and the apparent discrepancy between the seismic moment predicted by plate kinematics and that recorded in the Zagros. Any associated intraplate deformation, if detected geodetically, would thus help the assessment of seismic hazard. |
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