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Pull-apart basin formation and development in narrow transform
zones with application to the Dead Sea Basin
J. Smit,
1,2,3
J.-P. Brun,
2
S. Cloetingh,
1
and Z. Ben-Avraham
4
Received 20 February 2007; revised 8 September 2008; accepted 9 October 2008; published 31 December 2008.
[1] Contrary to other examples, like Death Valley,
California, and the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, the Dead
Sea-type pull-apart basins form within a narrow
transform corridor between strike-slip faults that are
less than 10 km apart, much smaller than the crustal
thickness of 35 km. In this paper we investigate the
role of fault zone width versus thickness and rheology
on the mechanics of pull-apart basins through a series
of laboratory experiments. Results show that pull-apart
basins that develop above a small step over (i.e.,
smaller than the thickness of the brittle layer") are
narrow and elongated parallel to the overall motion.
This is enhanced by increased decoupling along a
basal ductile layer. The experiment with the highest
degree of mechanical decoupling shows a striking
resemblance to the Dead Sea Basin (DSB). Comparison
with modeling results suggests that the DSB’s flat
basin floor is bordered over its full length by strike-
slip faults that control the basin geometry and
temporal and spatial basin migration. This is in
strong contrast to Death Valley-type pull-apart basins
that are highly oblique to the transform direction with
transverse normal faults dominating over longitudinal
strike-slip faults. Results imply that lithosphere
rheology and the ratio of basin width to crustal
thickness are controlling factors in the mechanics of
pull-apart basin formation within transform corridors
like the Dead Sea Fault. Citation: Smit, J., J.-P. Brun,
S. Cloetingh, and Z. Ben-Avraham (2008), Pull-apart basin
formation and development in narrow transform zones with
application to the Dead Sea Basin, Tectonics,27, TC6018,
doi:10.1029/2007TC002119.
1. Introduction
[2] Pull-apart basins are prominent features along conti-
nental transform faults like the San Andreas Fault, Dead Sea
Fault and Alpine Fault of New Zealand [e.g., Crowell, 1974;
Aydin and Nur, 1982; 1985; Ben-Avraham, 1985; Christie-
Blick and Biddle,1985;Sylvester,1988;Ben-Avraham,
1997; ten Brink et al., 1999; Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham,
2001]. These basins are important sources of information
concerning the history of the transform, recorded in their
sedimentary fill.
[3] The Dead Sea Fault (DSF) displays a series of pull-
apart basins that are, from south to north, the basins of the
Gulf of Aqaba, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, the Hula
basin, and the El Ghab basin (Figure 1). All these basins are
located within the transform corridor [e.g., Garfunkel and
Ben-Avraham, 2001] and none of them is wider than the
corridor itself, except for the Sea of Galilee, whose anom-
alous geometry is due to the interference of the faults
defining the corridor with normal faults located outside
[Hurwitz et al., 2002]. All other basins are elongated and
parallel to the corridor borders. Their long sides are defined
by strike-slip and normal faults and the short sides are
flexural or defined by normal faults. The Dead Sea Basin is,
with a total length of 150 km and a depth to basement of
more than 8 km, among the largest and most studied pull-
apart basins worldwide [e.g., Zak and Freund, 1981; Kashai
and Croker,1987;Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham, 1996;
Niemi et al., 1997; Al-Zoubi et al., 2002; Cloetingh and
Ben-Avraham, 2002; Larsen et al., 2002; Enzel et al., 2006].
It is composed of three narrow and elongated subbasins.
The very steep subsidence gradients are accommodated
along a small number of closely spaced faults.
[4] Striking differences exist between the geometries of
the Dead Sea Basin and other pull-apart basin such as the
Death Valley Basin [e.g., Burchfiel and Stewart, 1966;
Wright and Troxel, 1999] (Figure 2). The transform-parallel
orientation of the Dead Sea Basin and its elongated, nearly
rectangular geometry contrasts with the highly transform-
oblique Death Valley pull-apart basin. The Dead Sea sub-
basins are oriented in-line, while gravity analysis shows
four subbasins with an en echelon orientation in the Death
Valley Basin [Blakely et al., 1999]. The strike-slip fault/
normal (longitudinal/orthogonal) fault length ratio is around
9 in the Dead Sea Basin and 0.3 in the Death Valley Basin.
The spacing between strike-slip faults is less than 10 km in
the Dead Sea and almost 40 km in the Death Valley. As the
two examples have a comparable crustal thickness of 35 –
40 km [e.g., Ginzburg et al., 1981; Ruppert et al., 1998;
Desert Group et al., 2004; Mohsen et al., 2006], the ratio
between the strike-slip fault spacing and crustal thickness is
less than 0.25 for the Dead Sea and around 1 for the Death
Valley. In the large spectrum of pull-apart basin geometries
[e.g., Crowell, 1974; Aydin and Nur, 1982; 1985; Basile and
TECTONICS, VOL. 27, TC6018, doi:10.1029/2007TC002119, 2008
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Here
for
Full
A
rticl
e
1
Netherlands Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Sciences,
Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam,
Netherlands.
2
Ge´osciences Rennes, Universite´ de Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
3
Now at Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich,
Switzerland.
4
Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University,
Tel Aviv, Israel.
Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
0278-7407/08/2007TC002119$12.00
TC6018 1of17
Brun, 1999; Wakabayashi et al., 2004], the above men-
tioned nondimensional numbers suggest that the Dead Sea
and the Death Valley basins represent end-member cases.
[5] Despite the large amount of available data, funda-
mental questions remain on the internal geometry and the
mechanisms controlling the Dead Sea Basin evolution. Of
particular importance in this context is the role of strain
partitioning between longitudinal faults, the role of trans-
verse faults and the occurrence of basin migration. Since the
recognition of strike-slip movement within the basin is
rather difficult, the nature of individual faults is often
questioned, as is the timing of movement.
[6] In the present paper, we address the influence of
rheology and fault zone width versus thickness on pull-
apart basin development in narrow transform zones. We
present a series of laboratory experiments specifically
designed to study pull-apart basin formation and develop-
ment in narrow transform fault zones like the Dead Sea
Figure 1. (a) Landsat 7 image of the Dead Sea Fault with location of the Dead Sea Basin. (b) Structural
map of the Dead Sea Basin (modified from Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham [1996] and Kashai and Croker
[1987]) with profiles based on gravity modeling from ten Brink et al. [1993]. Profile AA’ is shown in
Figure 3. AmF, Amazyahu Fault; ArF, Arava Fault; AV, Arava Valley; EBF, Eastern Boundary Fault;
EGF, Ein Gedi Fault; EIF, Eastern Intermediate Fault; GSF, Ghor Safi Fault; IF, Iddan Fault; JF, Jericho
(Jordan) Fault; JV, Jordan Valley; LD, Lisan Diapir; SD, Sedom Diapir; SF, Sedom Fault; WBF, Western
Border Fault; WIF, Western Intermediate Fault.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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Fault. The experimental results and their implications for
the development of pull-apart basins in general and those in
narrow fault zones in particular, are discussed after the
example of Death Valley and the Dead Sea Basin.
2. Dead Sea Basin
2.1. Plate Tectonic Setting
[7] The Dead Sea Fault relates the opening of the Red
Sea to the south, to the Taurus-Zagros collision to the north,
with since 15 Ma an amount of about 100 km of sinistral
displacement between the Arabian and African plates [e.g.,
Quennell, 1959; McKenzie et al., 1970].
[8] A regional change in plate kinematics took place
around 5 Ma ago, more or less coeval with the onset of
oceanic accretion in the Red Sea [e.g., Izzeldin, 1987; Le
Pichon and Gaulier, 1988]. In the Taurus Mountains a
change from compression to strike slip was dated at around
5 Ma [e.g., Kocyigit et al., 2001] marks the initiation of the
east and north Anatolian faults that accommodate the
westward extrusion of Anatolia [e.g., Sengo¨r et al., 1985;
Le Pichon and Gaulier, 1988]. The more or less coeval
formation of the Sea of Galilee and Hula depression
together with the initiation of the main subsidence in the
Dead Sea Basin and the Gulf of Aqaba is dated at around
5 Ma as well [e.g., Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham, 2001].
Figure 2. The remarkably different geometries of pull-apart basins of (a) the Dead Sea (modified from
data of Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham [1996]) and (b) the Death Valley (modified from Burchfiel and
Stewart [1966]). Spacing between strike-slip faults is less than 10 km in the Dead Sea and almost 40 km
in the Death Valley. The strike-slip fault/normal fault length ratio is approximately 9 in the Dead Sea and
0.3 in the Death Valley. Figure conventions are as in Figure 1b.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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[9] The southern half of the Dead Sea Fault is bordered
by steep fault scarps that have resulted in a rift valley-like
morphology of 5 to 20 km wide [e.g., Quennell, 1958,
1959; Wdowinski and Zilberman, 1997]. This has been
attributed to a slight component of extension in addition
to the overall strike-slip movement [Quennell, 1958, 1959;
Wdowinski and Zilberman, 1997], which has been related to
the plate kinematics change around 5 Ma [e.g., Garfunkel,
1981]. The asymmetry of the DSF that appears in both cross
section and plan view is marked by higher vertical fault
offsets and related flank uplift and erosion along the eastern
side of the rift valley [e.g., Quennell, 1958; Garfunkel, 1981;
Wdowinski and Zilberman, 1997; Basile and Allemand,
2002]. A total amount of 107 km of left-lateral displacement
is deduced from geological correlation, with 62 km dis-
placement during the Miocene and 45 km since the Pliocene
[Quennell, 1959]. Regional-scale reconstructions of plate
kinematics between Eurasia, Africa and Arabia sustain an
initiation of the DSF around 15 Ma and a change in the
kinematics of Arabia around 5 Ma [e.g., Joffe and Garfunkel,
1987; Le Pichon and Gaulier, 1988; Chu and Gordon, 1998;
Bosworth et al., 2005]. The present displacement rate along
the DSF is estimated at 4 – 5 cm/a based on recent GPS
constraints [Reilinger et al., 2006].
[10] For full reviews on geology and geophysics of the
Dead Sea and its regional setting see Niemi et al. [1997],
Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham [2001], Cloetingh and Ben-
Avraham [2002] and Enzel et al. [2006], among others.
2.2. Basin Geometry
[11] The Dead Sea Basin (DSB) formed in the Miocene
as a pull-apart basin between two en echelon strike-slip fault
segments, the Jericho Fault to the west and the Arava Fault
to the east (Figure 1). With a total length of more than
150 km and a width of up to 15 – 17 km, the DSB is among
the largest pull-apart basins worldwide. The basin reaches a
maximum depth of 8.5 km or more in its central part under
the Lisan Diapir, as indicated by depth conversion of
seismic lines [Al-Zoubi and ten Brink, 2001] and gravity
data analyses (Figure 1b) [ten Brink et al., 1993]. The Dead
Sea Basin initiated to the south of the presently active basin
in the Arava Valley, as demonstrated by a thick succession
of Miocene lacustrine clastic sediments [e.g., Kashai and
Croker, 1987; Garfunkel, 1997]. The active DSB is sub-
divided in a northern and a southern subbasin by the Lisan
peninsula, a large salt diapir. The 45–50 km long northern
subbasin is the location of the present-day Dead Sea, a
350 m deep hypersaline lake with a water level at 400 m
below Mediterranean Sea Level. The subaerial central
subbasin was until 50 years ago covered by the lake and
therefore known as the southern Dead Sea. The difference in
depth between the subaerial South basin and the 350 m deep
north basin, suggests that activity has migrated to the north,
as happened before when the Miocene basin became inac-
tive [e.g., Kashai and Croker, 1987; Garfunkel and Ben-
Avraham, 1996]. This raises a number of fundamental
questions on the mechanics involved in basin migration,
the influence of transverse faults and the displacement
history of separate faults.
2.3. Longitudinal Faults
[12] The flat basin floor is bounded on both sides by
longitudinal intrabasinal faults named Western and Eastern
Intermediate faults in the northern subbasin and Sedom and
Ghor Safi faults in the southern subbasin, respectively [e.g.,
Neev and Hall, 1979; Ben-Avraham et al., 1993; Al-Zoubi et
al., 2002; Larsen et al., 2002] (Figures 1b and 3). The
Western Intermediate Fault (WIF) is the continuation of the
Jordan Fault, the main transform fault north of the Dead Sea,
and therefore accommodates important strike-slip motion.
The southward continuation of the WIF is obscured by the
Lisan Diapir, it is therefore unclear whether the WIF and the
Sedom Fault are directly linked or not. Along the eastern
side, strike-slip motion could be accommodated by the Ghor
Safi Fault (GSF) or the Eastern Boundary Fault (EBF), or
by both. The strong dip-slip component complicates the
recognition and analysis of the strike-slip component on
intrabasinal faults. Whether these faults are still active along
their entire length at present day, or whether parts of them
have become inactive as strike-slip faults with the formation
of new transverse faults and the associated basin migration
remains unresolved.
[13] The strike-slip motion along the western basin bor-
der is considered to occur along the Western Longitudinal
Fault in the northern [Neev and Hall, 1979], and the Sedom
Fault in the southern basin. An intermediate fault block
between intrabasinal fault and border fault forms the tran-
sition from basin floor to footwall on both sides. The
shallow block between the Western Boundary Fault and
the Western Intrabasinal Fault is referred to as the median
[Kashai and Croker, 1987] or intermediate block [Larsen et
al., 2002]. This block is covered by a maximum of 3500 m
of sediments in the southern basin [ten Brink and Ben-
Avraham, 1989]. The connection between the Sedom Fault
and Western Intrabasinal Fault to the north is unclear,
although a ‘‘micro’’-pull-apart basin has been observed
along the in the continuation of the Western Intrabasinal
Fault [Bartov and Sagy, 2004]. From detailed fault analyses
along the western side of the DSB, Sagy et al. [2003]
propose that the strike-slip faults form first and that the
border normal faults develop in a later stage to accommo-
date extension.
[14] The eastern shore is formed by the Eastern Boundary
Fault, the northward continuation of the Arava Fault. The
Eastern Boundary Fault accommodates both strike-slip and
large part of the dip-slip offset (Figures 1b and 3). The
intrabasinal Ghor Safi Fault separates the basin floor from a
small median block [Al-Zoubi and ten Brink, 2001].
2.4. Transverse Faults
[15] A number of SE striking transverse faults cross the
basin. Many of these faults are only imaged within the basin
fill and their presence in the basement could not be proven
owing to a lack of deep seismic data. Transverse faults
recognized in the basin fill may likely terminate on the
evaporites (for depth location, see Figure 3), without affect-
ing the basement. The basin depth increases relatively
gradually from the north and the South toward the center
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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as can be seen on seismic refraction [Ginzburg and Ben-
Avraham, 1997] and gravity data (Figure 1b) [ten Brink and
Ben-Avraham, 1989].
[16] A small number of transverse faults can be traced
into the basement, among them the Iddan, Amazyahu and
Ein Gedi faults. In the south, the Iddan Fault forms the
border between the northern Arava valley and the southern
Dead Sea Basin (Figure 1b); this fault is imaged on
reflection seismic profiles as a 60°–70°northward dipping
normal fault that continues into the basement. The Ama-
zyahu Fault, 20 km north of the Iddan Fault, is a NW-SE
trending listric normal fault that soles in the evaporites,
accommodating 5.5 km of stretching of the basin fill [e.g.,
ten Brink and Ben-Avraham, 1989]. The analysis of the
seismic stratigraphy indicates that activity of the rollover,
associated to the listric fault, started in the lower-middle
Pleistocene. The 50 m high fault escarpment points to recent
slip [ten Brink and Ben-Avraham, 1989]. Seismic lines
indicate that the basement along the Amazyahu Fault is
affected by normal faults [Kashai and Croker, 1987; Larsen
et al., 2002]. North of the Lisan diapir, the Ein Gedi fault
zone corresponds to the edge of the northern basin [Neev
and Hall, 1979].
[17] Although the northern limit of the DSB appears to be
flexural based on gravity analyses (Figure 1b) [e.g., ten
Brink and Ben-Avraham, 1989; ten Brink et al., 1993], the
M
l
= 5.2 earthquake of February 2004, suggests the presence
of a basement transverse fault [Lazar et al., 2006; Al-Tarazi
et al., 2006; European Mediterranean Seismological Centre,
Earthquake mb 5.1 in Dead Sea region, Jerusalem, 11 Feb.
2004, available at http://www.emsc-csem.org/Html/
DEADSEA_110204.html, hereinafter referred to as EMSC,
2004]. The fault plane solution indicates combined dip slip
and strike-slip displacement during the main shock (EMSC,
2004) along a northwest-southeast striking fault [Lazar et
al., 2006]. Recent studies have shown the prolongation of
the basin fill into the Jordan valley where a number of
shallow subbasins is separated by transverse faults [e.g.,
Lazar et al., 2006; Al-Zoubi et al., 2007]. The thick salt
layer of the Pliocene Sedom Formation is a complicating
factor in the study of the architecture of the Dead Sea Basin.
It strongly decouples younger basin fill from the basement
and forms a number of large diapiric structures [e.g., Neev
and Hall, 1979; Ben-Avraham et al., 1993; ten Brink and
Ben-Avraham, 1989; Ben-Avraham, 1997; Gardosh et al.,
1997; Garfunkel, 1997; Al-Zoubi and ten Brink,2001;
Larsen et al., 2002; Weinberger et al., 2006]. Owing to
the decoupling of basement from basin fill, structures at the
surface and in the basin observed from seismic data cannot
necessarily be extrapolated to the basement. Additionally,
absorption of seismic energy by the evaporites limits the
depth penetration of many seismic lines.
3. Laboratory Experiments
[18] Several experimental modeling studies, both analog
[e.g., Fauge`re et al., 1986; Jolivet et al., 1991; Dooley and
McClay, 1997; Rahe et al., 1998; Basile and Brun, 1999,
Sims et al., 1999] and numerical in 2-D [e.g., Segall and
Pollard, 1980; Rodgers, 1980; Goelke et al., 1994] and 3-D
[e.g., Katzman et al., 1995; Petrunin and Sobolev, 2006]
have focused on the structural development of pull-apart
basins. Pull-apart basin initiation in laboratory experiments
is forced by a lateral step over in the moving basal plate
Figure 3. Cross section through southern Dead Sea Basin (modified from data of Al-Zoubi et al. [2002])
(see Figure 1 for location).
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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(Figure 4). Different parameters have been experimentally
tested, including the width and the angle of the step over
and the model’s rheology (purely brittle (sand) or brittle/
ductile (sand/silicone)). Commonly, the step over width is
larger than the thickness of the brittle layer resulting in a
pull-apart basin with a long axis that is oblique to the
direction of plate motion [e.g., Rahe et al., 1998; Basile and
Brun, 1999; Sims et al., 1999]. As described in the intro-
duction, the width of the Dead Sea Basin is determined by
the between the strike-slip faults, which in case of the Dead
Sea Basin is much smaller that that of the crust. It appeared
therefore important to test if step overs smaller than model
thickness would not be more adapted to the mechanics of
Dead Sea-type pull-apart basins. The series of experiments
presented in this paper address pull-apart basin geometry
and development in terms of fault zone width and crustal
rheology.
3.1. Experimental Setup and Procedure
[19] Experiments are carried out using a classical Riedel
shear box in which deformation is induced by the displace-
ment of a thin plastic plate at the base of half of the model
(Figure 4a). The opposite side of the model is fixed. Pull-
apart basins form above a lateral step over velocity discon-
tinuity (SOVD, Figure 4b) in the basal plate that is oriented
perpendicular to the direction of plate motion, or strike-slip
velocity discontinuity (SLVD, Figure 4b) [e.g., Jolivet et al.,
1991; Dooley and McClay, 1997; Basile and Brun, 1999].
Two widths of the lateral step over in the basal plate (5 and
10 cm), respectively smaller and larger than the model
thickness (8 cm) were used. A basal ductile layer represent-
ing the ductile crust distributes the applied displacement at a
distance from the step over [see also Jolivet et al., 1991;
Basile and Brun, 1999; Sims et al., 1999]. Two thicknesses
of 0.5 and 1.0 cm for this basal ductile layer were tested.
Model parameters are summarized in Table 1.
[20] With ongoing basin growth and subsidence, thin
sand layers are added to the basin fill at regular time
intervals to simulate syntectonic sedimentation. Experi-
ments are presented here by two surface photographs, one
before sedimentation and the others in the course of or at the
end of deformation. Cross sections are oriented perpendic-
ular to the direction of motion with 2.5 cm spacing.
[21] In the following section we present results of the
laboratory experiments for 4 initial set-ups, highlighting the
importance of de´collement strength and the ratio of step
over (fault zone) width to brittle layer thickness.
3.2. Experimental Results
3.2.1. Model 1 (Purely Brittle, Large Step Over)
[22] Deformation starts in the center of the model above
the step over with the initiation of two dominantly strike-
slip faults (F
1
and F
2
), close to Riedel shears in pure strike-
slip displacement, that grow outward and accommodate
strike-slip and dip-slip motions (Figure 5) thus forming a
pull-apart basin. With ongoing motion, the main strike-slip
movement is transferred to newly formed intrabasinal faults
(F
3
and F
4
) that are oriented less oblique to the SLVD
(Figure 5). Normal faulting is partly transferred to these
newly formed strike-slip faults and partly continued along
the border faults. The final basin has a strongly sigmoidal
geometry that can be attributed to the absence of a basal
ductile de´collement level. The wide step over plays a strong
role, inducing highly oblique and strongly curved faults.
Accordingly, the long axis of the basin strikes at a signif-
icant angle to the SLVD. This type of pull-apart basins that
forms above a wide basement step over in the absence of a
basal de´collement is well known from literature [e.g.,
Fauge`re et al., 1986; Dooley and McClay, 1997].
3.2.2. Model 2 (Thin Basal De´ collement, Large Step
Over)
[23] The two dominantly strike-slip faults (F
1
and F
2
) that
initiate above the large step over are less curved and oblique
than in model 1. Similar to the previous model, strike-slip
and normal faulting concentrates on these initial faults
during early stages of basin formation. The largest strike-
slip displacements are located along fault F
1
that is less
oblique to the SLVD than fault F
2
(Figure 6). With increas-
ing displacement, a new strike-slip fault (F
3
) appears in the
Table 1. Model Parameters
a
Model
1234
Step over width (cm) 10.0 10.0 5.0 5.0
Thickness basal silicone (cm) x 0.5 0.5 1.0
a
Step over width (W
step over
); length width of the basal silicone layer
(L
bs
W
bs
) and the thickness of the basal silicone layer (Z
bs
).
Figure 4. (a) Experimental setup. See text for details. (b) Terminology for basal plate boundary, step
over (SOVD) and strike-slip velocity discontinuity, or direction of plate motion (SLVD).
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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basin center. Fault F
2
is too oblique to accommodate further
strike-slip motion but remains active as a normal fault.
[24] During late motion, when the fault pattern is stabi-
lized, a new oblique normal fault (F
4
) appears (Figure 6).
The pull-apart basin itself, as it is defined by the longitu-
dinal strike-slip faults, forms a subbasin within the initial
and larger one that is defined by normal faults highly
oblique to the direction of motion. The pull-apart subbasin
has a regular elongated shape that trends with a 15°
obliquity to the direction of motion. With increasing dis-
placement, transverse normal faults develop outside the
basin to accommodate the large extension. Serial cross
sections, cut perpendicular to the direction of motion, show
that much of the subsidence is accommodated along the
boundary normal faults and the intrabasinal strike-slip
faults, especially along the western basin side (Figure 7).
Figure 5. Photos and line drawings of model 1 with a basement step over width of 10 cm, without basal
ductile layer. Note that the final basin has a strongly sigmoidal geometry due to the absence of a basal
ductile de´collement level.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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[25] Note that in cross sections (Figure 7) all faults have
dips, steeper than common for normal faults, i.e., in excess
of 60°. The same observation also holds for the following
models.
3.2.3. Model 3 (Thin Basal De´ collement, Small Step
Over)
[26] Owing to the smaller step over, the initial dominantly
strike-slip faults (F
1
and F
2
) are less oblique to the direction
Figure 6. Photos and line drawings of model 2. Setup is same as model 1, apart from the addition of a
5 mm thick basal ductile layer of located above the step over. Dark shading on drawing indicates outline
of synkinematic sedimentation; light shading represents total subsided area. The initially wide basin
narrows with the initiation of a longitudinal fault within the basin. After 5 cm displacement, highly
oblique normal faults develop outside the basin.
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of motion and more regularly distributed along the fault
zone than in previous models (Figure 8). These initial faults
are very close to Riedel shears, regularly spaced and
oriented at 15°to the direction of motion. These faults
define the short sides of the basin. The long sides are
defined by a new strike-slip fault (F
3
) and by propagation
of F
1
toward fault F
2
. The geometry and orientation of the
inner part of the basin as defined by the latest strike-slip
faults are similar to that of the pull-apart basin in the
previous model. At a late stage, a NW-SE trending trans-
verse fault (F
4
) appears in the southern part of the basin that
cuts both basement and basin fill (Figure 8). As a result, the
active depocenter migrates in the motion direction and basin
subsidence stops on the other side of F
4
. Owing to the small
basement step over deformation and subsidence are distrib-
uted along a large part of the fault zone resulting in a
shallower basin with a basin floor that deepens to the north
(Figure 9). Cross sections confirm that the limited subsi-
dence is almost fully concentrated on the strike-slip faults.
3.2.4. Model 4 (Thick Basal De´collement, Small Step
Over)
[27] The early faults are shorter and more closely spaced
than in previous models. A number of them remain active as
strike-slip faults and interconnect to form the southern and
western basin border faults (F
1
) (Figure 10). The eastern
border is formed by a fault (F
2
) that propagates southward
in the nondeformed area, east of the early faults. The
northern edge of the basin is flexural during most of the
deformation. As a whole, the basin is elongated and
regularly shaped with a flat floor bordered by two parallel
N-S trending strike-slip faults (F
1
and F
2
).
[28] Subsidence is regularly distributed over the length of
the long and narrow basin and therefore rather slow com-
pared to the other models and accommodated along the
border strike-slip faults (Figure 11). Although surface views
give little indication for their presence, cross sections show
that additional border normal faults do form finally; defin-
ing small intermediate blocks (Figure 11). Near the southern
edge of the basin, a NW-SE transverse fault (F
3
) initiates in
late stages to form the new southern border of the basin. A
second NW-SE trending transverse fault (F
4
) appears along
the, northern rim of the basin that until then was flexural
(Figure 10). Together, the two transverse faults decrease the
basin length and cause an inward depocenter migration.
4. Discussion of Experimental Results
[29] The experiments demonstrate that basins forming in
the absence of a basal ductile layer are characterized by a
sigmoidal geometry in surface view (Figure 5) [see also
Fauge`re et al., 1986].
[30] Decreasing the width of the step over strongly
decreases the amount and rate of subsidence. The compar-
ison between model 2 (Figure 6) and model 3 (Figure 8)
shows that the actual pull-apart basins are quite similar.
At the same time, the highly oblique and partly sigmoidal
normal faults that accommodate the strong subsidence in
model 2 are absent in model 3. In the latter case the step
Figure 7. Cross sections of model 2. Most of the subsidence is accommodated along the border and
intrabasinal faults, especially along the western side. The pull-apart basin, as defined by the strike-slip
faults, occupies less than half the width of the total basin.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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over width is smaller than the thickness of the brittle
layer.
[31] Pull-apart basins that develop above a small step
over (i.e., smaller than the model thickness) have a reduced
width and become more rectangular and more parallel to the
overall motion. These effects increase with an increasing
decoupling along the basal ductile layer. In the experiment
with the largest degree of decoupling along the basal ductile
Figure 8. Photos and line drawings of model 3 with the same setup as model 2, except the small
basement step over of 5.0 cm. The basin’s regular shape is defined by the initial faults. The white sand on
the right photograph outlines the part of the basin that became inactive with basin migration and is partly
covered with dark sand in the remaining active part. Pale shading on drawings shows that subsidence is
almost fully concentrated in the basin.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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layer, the basin has a nearly rectangular geometry, is elon-
gated parallel to the strike-slip basal boundary (Figure 10)
and has a flat basin floor (Figure 11).
[32] Longitudinal strike-slip faults border the basin floor
over its entire length. Their steep to vertical dip implies that
the distance between them remains constant. Consequently,
the pull-apart basin itself does not widen with ongoing
deformation. During a first stage, basin subsidence is
accommodated along these strike-slip faults. Then, normal
faults without strike-slip component form at the rim of the
basin to accommodate extension that results from the
oblique orientation of the basin with respect to the imposed
displacement.
[33] Three types of transverse faults are identified in the
models. The first one is a basin border fault, it is present in
basins whose north and south margins are bordered by
faults since the onset of deformation (e.g., F
1
and F
2
in
model 1, Figure 5). These transverse faults are the remnants
of incipient Riedel-like faults. The second type of transverse
faults occurs in basins with initially or gradually subsiding,
extremities (i.e., no fault). With ongoing subsidence, when
the subsidence gradient becomes too strong to be accom-
modated solely by flexure, transverse faults initiate to
accommodate further subsidence (e.g., F
4
in model 3,
Figure 8). The third type, the intrabasinal faults, is related
to basin migration (e.g., F
4
in model 4, Figure 10). When
the transverse fault connects the two border strike-slip
faults, the displacement is transferred from the southern
part of the eastern fault to the northern part of the western
fault. Consequently, the southern part of the basin becomes
inactive and subsidence concentrates in the northern part.
[34] In a pure strike-slip setting, the basin’s longitudinal
strike-slip faults are parallel to the regional displacement
field. In the absence of a regional transtensional component,
the amount of extension on border faults oriented normal to
the fault zone depends on the angle between basin and
direction of movement and the width of the basement step
over. This implies that, if the fault zone is not transtensional
at a regional scale, basins that are elongated parallel to the
direction of plate movement will show little or no extension
perpendicular to their elongation, nevertheless the strong
dip-slip component of faults.
5. Comparison of Experimental Results and
the Dead Sea Basin
[35] The ratio between crustal thickness and amount of
displacement is a critical parameter in scaling length be-
tween model and prototype. The amount of displacement
applied to the DSB is poorly known owing to uncertainties
in the exact age of the oldest sediments, i.e., Miocene
clastics of the Hazeva Formation [e.g., Garfunkel, 1997].
However, these 2 km thick sediments must be of pre-
Pliocene age. Accordingly, the DSB accommodated at least
40 km of plate motion, which is more than its crustal
thickness. Since the total displacement applied to the experi-
ments does not exceed the model thickness, the final length
and architecture cannot be compared to the full complexity
of the present-day Dead Sea Basin. However, in view of this
limitation, it is remarkable how well experimental results, in
particular model 4, fit to the architecture of the present DSB
(Figure 12).
[36] Experimental results give insight into a number of
features related to Dead Sea-type elongated pull-apart
basins, including the appearance of intrabasinal transverse
faults and basin migration.
Figure 9. Cross sections of model 3. T indicates late transverse fault responsible for basin migration.
Note the limited basin depth south of the transverse fault.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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5.1. Death Valley Versus Dead Sea
[37] The relatively small distance between the fault seg-
ments along the DSF leads to rather elongated and nearly
rectangular basins with long axis parallel to the bounding
strike-slip faults (Figure 2a). Experiments show that in fault
zone-parallel pull-apart basins, the longitudinal strike-slip
faults define the basin geometry and that basin extremities
may be flexural instead of being defined by faults. This is in
strong contrast to Death Valley type pull-apart basins
(Figure 2b) that are highly oblique to the transform direc-
tion, with transverse normal faults dominating over longi-
Figure 10. Photos and line drawings of model 4. Experimental setup is as in model 3 but with a twice as
thick basal ductile layer (1.0 cm). The initial basin is defined by subsidence between two parallel
longitudinal faults. Northern and southern borders are flexural. Figure 10 (right) shows late transverse
faults that are responsible for the inward migration of the depocenter.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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tudinal strike-slip faults. The architecture of these oblique
basins is closer to an oblique rift than to transform parallel
basins, like those along the DSF. It follows that the ratio of
fault zone or corridor width, with respect to crustal thick-
ness is an important parameter in the mechanics of pull-
apart basin formation within transform corridors like the
Dead Sea Fault.
5.2. Strike-Slip Faulting
[38] Recognition of a strike-slip component on a fault is
often difficult and in pull-apart basins further complicated
by the strong dip-slip component on the faults. Strike-slip
faults border the flat basin floor on both sides along the full
basin length. In basins bordered by both normal and strike-
slip faults, the faults bordering the flat basin floor have a
strike-slip component. For the Dead Sea, these are the
Sedom and Western Intrabasinal faults along the western
side and the Ghor Safi Fault and its northern continuation
along the eastern side of the basin (Figure 12a).
5.3. Normal Faulting
[39] The presented experimental results show a dominant
role of pure normal faults at the basin rims to accommodate
basin subsidence when the basin trends oblique to the
motion direction. Normal faults become increasingly im-
portant with increasing basin obliquity. In the models with
the highest obliquity (models 1 and 2), border normal faults
are dominant and determine the basin’s outline. On the
contrary, the basin is almost parallel to the motion direction
in model 4 and as a result border normal faults are of minor
importance (Figure 12b). This confirms that the normal
faults observed along the DSB’s borders may result from a
slight local or regional transtension [e.g., Quennell, 1958,
1959; Garfunkel, 1981; Ben-Avraham and Zoback, 1992].
5.4. Intrabasinal Transverse Faults and Basin
Migration
[40] Because the evaporites decouple the younger basin
fill from the basement, the transverse faults in the Pliocene
to Recent basin fill do not necessarily reflect the presence of
basement faults. Transverse faults are linked to basin
migration in the experimental models (Figures 8, 10 and
12b). With the initiation of a transverse fault, activity of the
western transverse fault ceases south of it, resulting in
northward basin migration (Figure 12). In other words,
when transverse fault are linked to basin migration, the
occurrence of the latter provides an indication for the
presence of these faults. In the Dead Sea Basin, basin
migration seems to have occurred twice: first when the
Miocene segment in the Arava Valley became inactive and,
second, when basin subsidence switched from the Southern
Dead Sea to the Northern Basin, reflected in the contrast in
bathymetry, varying from subaerial to a 300 m water depth,
respectively. The first migration can probably be linked to
the Iddan Fault that is known from seismic data to be a
basement fault. Recognition of the fault related to the
second migration is complicated by the thick salt layer that
decouples the young sediments from basement and the lack
of resolution of seismic lines below the salt. The Ein Gedi
Fault [Neev and Hall, 1979] may have played a key role in
the second basin migration. This would also imply that the
Amazyahu basement fault, imaged on seismic data, has a
different origin and that it possibly accommodates north-
south stretching of the basement.
[41] Whereas in experiments transverse faults are orient-
ed more or less parallel to s
1
,at30°–45°with respect to
displacement direction, transverse faults are usually drawn
perpendicular to the displacement direction (see Figure 12
Figure 11. Cross sections of model 4. T indicates late transverse fault responsible for basin migration.
The basin floor is remarkably flat, whereas offset on border normal faults is small.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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for comparison). This discrepancy may be due to the limited
data concerning exact position and orientation of these
faults in the Dead Sea.
5.5. Northern Basin Margin: Gradual or Transverse
Fault
[42] The gradual deepening of the basin from the north
toward the basin center and the associated minor normal
faulting along its southern and northern border suggest
gradual, flexure-like deepening along the northern and
southern Dead Sea margins, compatible with model 4
(Figure 12) and the model based on gravity modeling
proposed by ten Brink and Ben Avraham [1989]. As in
model 4, transverse faults may have initiated in later stages
to accommodate subsidence after the gradients became too
steep. This might explain the recent M
l
= 5.2 May 2004
Figure 12. Interpretation of the architecture of the Dead Sea Basin based on experimental results. a)
Digital elevation model of the central segment of the Dead Sea Fault with the location of main structural
features controlling the geometry of the Dead Sea Basin. b) Basin configuration of laboratory experiment
most closely to the DSF in terms of initial experimental setup (model 4). c) Structural interpretation of the
DSB inferred from comparison of basin geometry and fault patterns (Figure 12a) with the results from
laboratory experiment model 4 (Figure 12b), showing that the compartmentalization of the DSB in
different subbasins, with pronounced differences in geometry is largely controlled by temporal and spatial
basin migration. Extrapolation of experimental results to the Dead Sea suggests that transverse faults are
oriented NW-SE instead of east-west.
TC6018 SMIT ET AL.: FAULTING AND SUBSIDENCE OF PULL-APART BASINS
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earthquake at the northern rim of the DSB [Lazar, 2004;
Al-Tarazi et al., 2006].
5.6. Step Over Width and Rheology
[43] The ratio between step over width and thickness of
the deforming layer determines not only the basin width but
its geometry and its development as well. Basins that
develop above a wide step over have a long axis trending
at high angles to the direction of motion, an irregular
geometry and important normal faulting. The regular and
nearly rectangular shape of the DSB is due to the small
width of the transform zone.
[44] The comparison between model 3 (Figures 8 and 9)
and model 4 (Figures 10 and 11) shows the importance of
decoupling along the lower ductile crust. For both models,
basal step over width and displacement rate are identical,
but in model 4 the ductile layer is twice as thick.
Consequently, the ductile strength in model 4 is half that
of model 3, and the decoupling between the upper brittle
layer (crust) and the basal plates (mantle) is twice as
effective in model 4. This results in a more elongated,
regular shape and symmetrical basin geometry in model 4.
This supports the existence of a high degree of decoupling
between upper crust and uppermost mantle along the lower
ductile crust along the Dead Sea Basin, (Figure 12), which
is in general agreement with results from numerical model-
ing [Petrunin and Sobolev, 2006]. This contradicts an
almost brittle lower crust, a conclusion based on the
observed deep seismicity in the DSB [Aldersons et al.,
2003; Shamir, 2006]. Alternative mechanisms for DSB
formation that consider a fully brittle crust, like drop down
basin (DDB) discussed by Ben-Avraham and Schubert
[2006], have not been tested in the present study.
6. Conclusions
[45] Contrary to other examples, Dead Sea-type pull-
apart basins form within the rather narrow transform corri-
dor between strike-slip faults that are less than 10 km apart,
much smaller than the crustal thickness of 35 km. Until
now, experimental studies have mostly concentrated on the
development of much wider pull-apart basins including the
influence of a basal ductile layer representing the lower
ductile crust. This paper has concentrated on the conse-
quences of fault zone width and rheology for the mechanics
of pull-apart basin formation. Pull-apart basins that develop
above a small step over (i.e., smaller than model thickness)
are reduced in width and are more rectangular and more
parallel to the overall motion. The partly sigmoidal, highly
oblique, normal faults that accommodate the strong subsi-
dence are absent in models with a step over width smaller
than model thickness. The presence of a basal ductile layer
results in a more regular fault pattern and a pull-apart basin
that is less oblique to the direction of motion. These effects
increase with increasing decoupling along the basal ductile
layer. In the experiment with the strongest mechanical
decoupling, the orthorhombic basin is almost parallel to
the strike-slip basal boundary and as a result, normal
faulting is minor. The short extremities are flexures until
new transverse faults form to accommodate further subsi-
dence. The flat basin floor is bordered by two straight faults
over its full length. Basin migration takes place after the
initiation of a new intrabasinal transverse fault. Comparison
between the model and the DSB yields that normal faulting
especially along the eastern border of the DSB is likely the
result of regional transtension and not of the pull-apart basin
itself. The flat basin floor of the DSB is bordered over its
full length by strike-slip faults. The elongated and regularly
orthorhombic basins with long axes parallel to the bounding
strike-slip faults appear to be controlled by the relatively
small distance between the strike-slip fault segments.
Experiments show that the longitudinal strike-slip faults
define the basin geometry as well as basin migration in
DSF-type pull-apart basins and that basin extremities may
be flexural instead of being defined by faults. This is in
strong contrast to Death Valley type pull-apart basins that
are highly oblique to the transform direction with transverse
normal faults dominating over longitudinal strike-slip faults.
The architecture of these oblique basins is closer to an
oblique rift than that of transform parallel basins like the
basins along the DSF. It follows that the ratio of basin width
and crustal thickness as well as the lithosphere rheology are
controlling factors in the mechanics of pull-apart basin
formation within transform corridors such as the Dead Sea
Fault System.
[46]Acknowledgments. The experiments presented in this paper
have been performed in the experimental tectonics laboratory of Ge´o-
sciences Rennes as part of the first author’s Ph.D. thesis, jointly granted by
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Universite´ de Rennes 1 [Smit, 2005].
We thank J.-J. Kermarrec for his help in setting up the experiments.
Remarks from two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the manuscript.
J.S. acknowledges financial support from the Netherlands Research Centre
for Integrated Solid Earth Sciences (ISES) and a Marie Curie Fellowship in
the framework of the European Doctoral Training Centre for Sedimentary
Basin Studies (Eurobasins). J.P.B. acknowledges financial support from the
Institut Universitaire de France. Suggestions and comments by the two
anonymous reviewers were greatly appreciated.
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