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- Tuesday, July 22, 2003
- Geophysical images of the Dead Sea Transform in Jordan reveal an impermeable barrier for fluid flow
- Published at:Not Found
High-resolutionseismictomography and magnetotelluric
(MT) soundings of the shallow crust show strong
changes in material properties across the Dead Sea
Transform Fault (DST) in the Arava valley in Jordan. 2D
inversion results of the MT data indicate that the DST is
associated with a strong lateral conductivity contrast of a
highly conductive layer at a depth of approximately 1.5 km
cut-off at a position coinciding with the surface trace of the
DST. At the same location, we observe a sharp increase of
P wave velocities from <4 km/s west of the fault to >5 km/s
to the east. The high velocities in the east probably reflect
Precambrian rocks while the high electrical conductivity
west of the DST is attributed to saline fluids within the
sedimentary filling. In this sense, the DST appears to act as
an impermeable barrier between two different rock
formations. Such a localized fluid barrier is consistent
with models of fault zone evolution but has so far not been
imaged by geophysical methods. The situation at the DST is
remarkably different from active segments of the San
Andreas Fault which typically show a conductive fault
core acting as a fluid conduit.
INDEX TERMS:
1515
Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism: Geomagnetic induction;
7205 Seismology: Continental crust (1242); 8005 Structural
Geology: Folds and folding; 8180 Tectonophysics: Tomography.
Citation:
Ritter, O., T. Ryberg, U. Weckmann, A. Hoffmann-
Rothe, A. Abueladas, Z. Garfunkel, and DESERT Research
Group, Geophysical images of the Dead Sea Transform in Jordan
reveal an impermeable barrier for fluid flow.
30(14), 1741, doi:10.1029/2003GL017541, 2003.
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