Paleoseismology and neotectonics of the northern Dead Sea fault in Lebanon & Syria

Ongoing research aims to assess the late Quaternary slip rate and temporal patterns of earthquake recurrence along the northern Dead Sea fault.   Earlier efforts focused on the Serghaya fault (e.g., Gomez et al., 2003) and the Misyaf branch of the transform in northwestern Syria (e.g., Meghraoui et al., 2003).  More recent efforts have focused on elucidating the earthquake behavior at different locations along the Yammouneh fault (see examples at right), in an effort to assess seismogenic segmentation along that structure

These studies have been conducted in collaboration with colleagues from IPG Strasbourg and Cornell University, as well as collaborating institutions in Lebanon and Syria..		 photograph of fault scarp along southern Yammouneh fault
A 1.5 meter fault scarp along the southern Yammouneh fault
Researchers:
Paco Gomez, Tony Nemer (post-doctoral scholar)

Support:
NSF Grant EAR-0439021


 excavation across fault scarp
Excavation across the fault scarp (above) expressing the two most recent events as colluvial wedges.
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last updated May 31, 2007.