DISTRIBUTION OF HOLOCENE SEDIMENTS AND NEOTECTONICS IN THE DEEP NORTH BASIN OF THE DEAD-SEA

The distribution of Holocene sediments and active faults in the central portion of the northern Dead Sea basin was analyzed from high resolution seismic reflection data. The seismic reflection profiles reveal that sediments buried at a shallow depth are flat-lying, continuous, and unfaulted within the central basin floor. Four prominent subsurface seismic reflectors were identified that, based on limited core data, represent the contact between rock salt and marl layers. Isopach and structural maps of recent sediments indicate an asymmetry of active subsidence with thick accumulations located closer to the east margin of the basin. Sediment thickness increases within a rhomb-shaped depression whose long-axis is oriented approximately 20-degrees-30-degrees counterclockwise to the regional basin-bounding faults. The morphology and trend of the locus of maximum subsidence suggests tectonic control of the depression. However, the proximity of the depocenter of recent sediments to the Ein Gedi diapir and rim depression suggests that local sub-basinal subsidence may also be related to movement of rock salt at depth. The basinal strata are deformed along the faults that form a bathymetric escarpment along the west, east, and south margins of the north basin of the Dead Sea. Thinning of recent sediments toward the faults indicates syntectonic deposition.