Description: An analysis of the shear (S) waves recorded during the wide-angle reflection/refraction (WRR) experiment as part of the DESERT project crossing the Dead Sea Transform (DST) reveals average crustal S-wave velocities of 3.3-3.5 km s-1 beneath the WRR profile. Together with average crustal P-wave velocities of 5.8-6.1 km s-1 from an already published study this provides average crustal Poisson's ratios of 0.26-0.27 (Vp/Vs= 1.76-1.78) below the profile. The top two layers consisting predominantly of sedimentary rocks have S-wave velocities of 1.8-2.7 km s-1 and Poisson's ratios of 0.25-0.31 (Vp/Vs= 1.73-1.91). Beneath these two layers the seismic basement has average S-wave velocities of around 3.6 km s-1 east of the DST and about 3.7 km s-1 west of the DST and Poisson's ratios of 0.24-0.25 (Vp/Vs= 1.71-1.73). The lower crust has an average S-wave velocity of about 3.75 km s-1 and an average Poisson's ratio of around 0.27 (Vp/Vs= 1.78). No Sn phase refracted through the uppermost mantle was observed. The results provide for the first time information from controlled source data on the crustal S-wave velocity structure for the region west of the DST in Israel and Palestine and agree with earlier results for the region east of the DST in the Jordanian highlands. A shear wave splitting study using SKS waves has found evidence for crustal anisotropy beneath the WRR profile while a receiver function study has found evidence for a lower crustal, high S-wave velocity layer east of the DST below the profile. Although no evidence was found in the S-wave data for either feature, the S-wave data are not incompatible with crustal anisotropy being present as the WRR profile only lies 30� off the proposed symmetry axis of the anisotropy where the difference in the two S-wave velocities is still very small. In the case of the lower crustal, high S-wave velocity layer, if the velocity change at the top of this layer comprises a small first-order discontinuity underlain by a 2 km thick transition zone, instead of just a large first-order discontinuity, then both the receiver function data and the WRR data presented here can be satisfied. Finally, the S-wave velocities and Poisson's ratios which have been derived in this study are typical of continental crust and do not require extensional processes to explain them.

Description: Beginning in September 2006, a temporary network of 30 broadband and 45 short-period seismic stations has been set up on both sides of the Dead Sea Basin (DSB). During one and a half year of successful operation, data were continuously recorded in the field at 100 Hz and 200 Hz sample frequency for the broadband and short-period seismic stations, respectively. The raw data were converted to miniseed format and archived as full seed volume in the GEOFON data center of the GFZ. In the present work, the Receiver Function Method has been applied to the three component passive source data to investigate seismic discontinuities from the crust down to the upper mantle. Unusual negative phases at about 1s delay time have been observed at several stations in the Dead Sea region on the top of the assumed salt diapir. First preliminary receiver function analysis reveals a crustal thickness of about 30 -35 km in the investigated area and possibly low-velocity layer beneath the Moho. It also shows a basin which is possibly filled with salt about 10 km thick beneath the Lisan peninsula (Dead Sea).

Description: As part of the DESIRE project a 240 km long seismic wide-angle reflection / refraction (WRR) profile was completed in spring 2006 across the Dead Sea Transform (DST) in the region of the southern Dead Sea basin. The DST with a total of about 105 km multi-stage left-lateral shear since about 18 Ma ago, accommodates the movement between the Arabian and African plates. It connects the spreading centre in the Red Sea with the Taurus collision zone in Turkey over a length of about 1100 km. With a sedimentary infill of about 10 km in places, the southern Dead Sea basin is the largest pull-apart basin along the DST and one of the largest pull-apart basins on Earth. The WRR measurements comprised 11 shots recorded by 200 three-component and 400 one-component instruments spaced 300 m to 1.2 km apart along the whole length of the E-W trending profile. Models of the P-wave velocity structure derived from the WRR data show that the sedimentary infill associated with the formation of the southern Dead Sea basin is about 8.5 km thick beneath the profile. With around an additional 2 km of older sediments, the depth to the seismic basement beneath the southern Dead Sea basin is about 11 km below sea level beneath the profile. In contrast, the interfaces below about 20 km depth, including the top of the lower crust and the Moho, show less than 3 km variation in depth beneath the profile as it crosses the southern Dead Sea basin. Thus the Dead Sea pull-apart basin might be essentially an upper crustal feature with N-S upper crustal extension associated with the left-lateral motion along the DST. E-W extension may be a very minor component. The boundary between the upper and lower crust at about 20 km depth could act as a decoupling zone. Below this boundary the two plates move past each other in what may be essentially a shearing motion. Thermo-mechanical modelling of the Dead Sea basin supports such a scenario.

Description: As part of the DEad Sea Integrated REsearch project (DESIRE) a 235 km long seismic wide-angle reflection/refraction (WRR) profile was completed in spring 2006 across the Dead Sea Transform (DST) in the region of the southern Dead Sea basin (DSB). The DST with a total of about 107 km multi-stage left-lateral shear since about 18 Ma ago, accommodates the movement between the Arabian and African plates. It connects the spreading centre in the Red Sea with the Taurus collision zone in Turkey over a length of about 1 100 km. With a sedimentary infill of about 10 km in places, the southern DSB is the largest pull-apart basin along the DST and one of the largest pull-apart basins on Earth. The WRR measurements comprised 11 shots recorded by 200 three-component and 400 one-component instruments spaced 300 m to 1.2 km apart along the whole length of the E–W trending profile. Models of the P-wave velocity structure derived from the WRR data show that the sedimentary infill associated with the formation of the southern DSB is about 8.5 km thick beneath the profile. With around an additional 2 km of older sediments, the depth to the seismic basement beneath the southern DSB is about 11 km below sea level beneath the profile. Seismic refraction data from an earlier experiment suggest that the seismic basement continues to deepen to a maximum depth of about 14 km, about 10 km south of the DESIRE profile. In contrast, the interfaces below about 20 km depth, including the top of the lower crust and the Moho, probably show less than 3 km variation in depth beneath the profile as it crosses the southern DSB. Thus the Dead Sea pull-apart basin may be essentially an upper crustal feature with upper crustal extension associated with the left-lateral motion along the DST. The boundary between the upper and lower crust at about 20 km depth might act as a decoupling zone. Below this boundary the two plates move past each other in what is essentially a shearing motion. Thermo-mechanical modelling of the DSB supports such a scenario. As the DESIRE seismic profile crosses the DST about 100 km north of where the DESERT seismic profile crosses the DST, it has been possible to construct a crustal cross-section of the region before the 107 km left-lateral shear on the DST occurred.

Description: This volume contains the results of the DESERT project running from 2000 to 2006. It opens with a review paper (DESERT Group, 2009) followed by 33 special papers, see list of content (529 pages).

Description: Fault zones are the locations where motion of tectonic plates, often associated with earthquakes, is accommodated. Despite a rapid increase in the understanding of faults in the last decades, our knowledge of their geometry, petrophysical properties, and controlling processes remains incomplete. The central questions addressed here in our study of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) in the Middle East are as follows: (1) What are the structure and kinematics of a large fault zone? (2) What controls its structure and kinematics? (3) How does the DST compare to other plate boundary fault zones? The DST has accommodated a total of 105 km of left‐lateral transform motion between the African and Arabian plates since early Miocene (∼20 Ma). The DST segment between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, called the Arava/Araba Fault (AF), is studied here using a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach from the μm to the plate tectonic scale. We observe that under the DST a narrow, subvertical zone cuts through crust and lithosphere. First, from west to east the crustal thickness increases smoothly from 26 to 39 km, and a subhorizontal lower crustal reflector is detected east of the AF. Second, several faults exist in the upper crust in a 40 km wide zone centered on the AF, but none have kilometer‐size zones of decreased seismic velocities or zones of high electrical conductivities in the upper crust expected for large damage zones. Third, the AF is the main branch of the DST system, even though it has accommodated only a part (up to 60 km) of the overall 105 km of sinistral plate motion. Fourth, the AF acts as a barrier to fluids to a depth of 4 km, and the lithology changes abruptly across it. Fifth, in the top few hundred meters of the AF a locally transpressional regime is observed in a 100–300 m wide zone of deformed and displaced material, bordered by subparallel faults forming a positive flower structure. Other segments of the AF have a transtensional character with small pull‐aparts along them. The damage zones of the individual faults are only 5–20 m wide at this depth range. Sixth, two areas on the AF show mesoscale to microscale faulting and veining in limestone sequences with faulting depths between 2 and 5 km. Seventh, fluids in the AF are carried downward into the fault zone. Only a minor fraction of fluids is derived from ascending hydrothermal fluids. However, we found that on the kilometer scale the AF does not act as an important fluid conduit. Most of these findings are corroborated using thermomechanical modeling where shear deformation in the upper crust is localized in one or two major faults; at larger depth, shear deformation occurs in a 20–40 km wide zone with a mechanically weak decoupling zone extending subvertically through the entire lithosphere.