Mechanical contrast and asymmetric distribution of crustal deformation across plate boundaries: Insights from the northern Dead Sea fault system

Abstract

The distribution of permanent deformation near strike-slip plate boundaries and the underlying controlling variables are commonly poorly understood. Here we examine the crustal deformation across the northern Dead Sea fault system based on paleomagnetic observations and mechanical modeling. We focus our investigation on the region of the Lebanese restraining bend where the fault system strikes obliquely to the general Sinai-Arabia plate motion. We construct a series of crustal elasto-plastic models in which kinematics is based on geodetic measurements, and the geometry of the plate boundary is constrained by gravity data. Both the observed regional vertical axis rotations and the model results display significant counterclockwise rotations (as much as ∼50°) confined to the northern Sinai microplate located west of the bend. On the other hand, relatively minor rotations (