TECTONIC SIGNIFICANCE OF MESOFRACTURE SYSTEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEBANESE SEGMENT OF THE DEAD SEA TRANSFORM FAULT

A 3000 m Jurassic-Cretaceous-Palaeogene succession dominated by carbonates is deformed by NNE trending open folds of Palaeogene age. Conjugate wrench faults and a system of normal faults extend the fold belt axially and probably evolved during anticlockwise rotation in a transpressive regime related to the oblique convergence of the African and Arabian plates across the Lebanese segment of the Dead Sea transform fault. Three sets and four systems of conjugate mesoscopic fractures, symmetrically orientated with reference to bedding and the plunge of the fold in which they are contained, resulted in minor axial elongation. Pressure solution on surfaces striking parallel to the fold belt locally achieved up to 50% shortening. The N30°E vertical Yammouné Fault Zone, which connects with the principal rift faults to the north and south, is accompanied by mesostructures which indicate that displacements were dominantly left-lateral and that the 1-2 km Zone is younger than the folds, possibly of Neogene age. © 1979.