Results are based on a 3D paleoseismic study conducted over multiple years, utilizing multiple trenches, and performed by multiple researchers at Bet Zeyda (aka Beteiha) just north of the Sea of Galilee (aka Lake Kinneret). Trenches were dug to examine paleo-channels which intersect and were offset by the active Jordan Gorge Fault. Initial work was done by Marco et al (2005). At Marco et al (2005)'s northern site, they identified two fault ruptures which exhibited a similar temporal pattern to two fault ruptures at the Tel Ateret archaeoseismic site ~12 km. to the north. In their radiocarbon derived age-depth model for Bet Zayda, Event E.H. 1 was tightly dated (1020 - 1280 CE) and likely was caused by the 1202 CE earthquake. Event E.H. 2 was not tightly dated. It struck sometime after 1415 CE. Marco et al (2005) suggested that one of the Baalbek Quakes of 1759 CE was responsible for E.H. 2, but they considered other possibilities such as the 1546 CE and 1837 CE earthquakes. Information from Marco et al (2005)'s work is summarized below:
Event | Date Range | Quake assignment | Displacement (m) | Estimated Magnitude | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
E.H. 1 | 1020-1280 CE | 1202 CE | ~2.2 | 7.1 - 7.3 | Sinistral Slip |
E.H. 2 | after 1415 CE | 1759 CE | 0.5 | 6.6 - 6.9 | Sinistral Slip |
Image | Description | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() General settings of the Beteiha (aka Bet Zayda) site. (a) An air photo of the field where the trenches were excavated, with the Jordan River, the main fault, and the local drainage demarcated. The channel flowing west through the trench site (double thin-dashed line) is abandoned and the field is now drained by the marked artificial canal (short thick-dashed line). (b) A photo of the trench site at the beginning of the first-trenching campaign, looking north toward the Jordan Gorge. A white car stands next to T30. A vegetation lineament associated with the fault is visible at the front. (c) The trench site with outlines for all trenches dug during our campaign, as well as the location of Marco et al. (2005) trenches. The trenches discussed in this paper are highlighted and labeled. The modern channel margins are marked by a dashed line. The topography model was obtained using a terrestrial laser scanner prior to second-year trenching, courtesy of O. Katz from the Geological Survey of Israel. The contour lines represent variations in elevation. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Map of Trenches Fault Channels |
Figure 2 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() Partial trench logs for T45 (north and south walls), focusing on the fault zone. Inset: Location map of trenches and channels mentioned in the paper. The outline of the channels is drawn schematically, based on this study and previous results (Marco et al., 2005; Wechsler et al., 2013). The legend applies to Figures 6–8 as well. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Trench Log T45 |
Figure 3 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() Trench logs for T37 (north and south walls). Event horizons are marked with dashed lines and faults in gray. The inset map and legend are the same as Figure 3. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Trench Log T37 |
Figure 6 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() Trench logs for T33 (east wall), where channel 4 is exposed. Event horizons are marked with dashed lines and faults in gray. The intersections with T37 and T39 are marked.Ages in italic denote proxy locations (same unit, different exposure) from another exposure of the same wall (see Ⓔ Fig. S1c available in the electronic supplement). The inset map and legend are the same as Figure 3. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Trench Log T33 |
Figure 7 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() Trench logs for T39 (north and south walls). Event horizons are marked with dashed lines and faults in gray. The sample at the bottom of T39N is in a proxy location from a lower unit of channel 6, below the channel 4 deposits (see Fig. S1c available in the electronic supplement). The inset map and legend are same as in Figure 3. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Trench Log T39 |
Figure 8 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() A simplified log of the parts of the west wall of T30 where channels cut into the massive clay. Channels are marked by their corresponding numbers in the text. The legend is the same as in Wechsler et al. (2014). Channel 4 was not exposed in T30. Inset on lower left – an example partial photolog of T37S, where the coarse sediments of channel 4 can be seen in fault contact. Faults are marked in red, event horizons in orange (full log was published in Wechsler et al., 2014). Wechsler at al. (2018) |
Trench T30 | Figure 2 | Wechsler at al. (2018) |
![]() ![]() from Tom Rockwell (email 30 March 2022) |
Trenches T30 and T30S | Unpublished | Thomas Rockwell |
![]() ![]() the revised OxCal model for channels 2 and 3. Changes relative to Wechsler et al (2014) are marked in red Wechsler at al. (2018) |
Revised Age Model | Figure 4 | Wechsler at al. (2018) |
![]() ![]() the revised OxCal model for channels 2 and 3. Changes relative to Wechsler et al (2014) are marked in red Wechsler at al. (2018) |
Revised Age Model Big |
Figure 4 | Wechsler at al. (2018) |
![]() ![]() An OxCal model of the overall stratigraphy of the channel complex using OxCal 4.1 (Bronk-Ramsey, 2009). We use the Marco et al. (2005) ages as an upper bound for our model, and a sample obtained from below channel 4 as a lower bound. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Age Model | Figure 5 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() An OxCal model of the overall stratigraphy of the channel complex using OxCal 4.1 (Bronk-Ramsey, 2009). We use the Marco et al. (2005) ages as an upper bound for our model, and a sample obtained from below channel 4 as a lower bound. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Age Model Big |
Figure 5 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() An OxCal model of the overall stratigraphy of the channel complex using OxCal 4.1 (Bronk-Ramsey, 2009). We use the Marco et al. (2005) ages as an upper bound for our model, and a sample obtained from below channel 4 as a lower bound. Wechsler at al. (2014) |
Age Model really big |
Figure 5 | Wechsler at al. (2014) |
![]() ![]() Map of trench site. The site was developed over three seasons, each marked with a different line. Marco et al (2005) |
Map of Trenches |
Figure 4 | Marco et al (2005) |
![]() ![]() Fault-parallel trench logs of the northern group show offset stream channels. Alternating alluvium and lake deposits reflect fluctuations of water level of the Kinneret. Clay units 1 and 8 below and above the channels indicate high stands of the Kinneret whereas channel incision indicates low stand. Marco et al (2005) |
Fault Parallel Trenches Northern Group T7, T16, T17, T18 |
Figure 6 | Marco et al (2005) |
![]() ![]() Trench logs and dated stratigraphy of Trenches T10 (top) and T4 (bottom). Solid lines mark the faults, dashed are very faint,discontinuous disturbances, which we attribute to late adjustments of the overlying strata. Two slip events are observed in T10. Based only onthe C14 dating, the first slip event (E.H. 1) postdates the 12th century and predates the 13th century. The second slip (E.H. 2) postdates the 15thcentury. Based on historical earthquake catalogues and correlation to Ateret we correlated the slip events to the earthquakes of 20 May, 1202 and30 October 1759. The trace of the 1759 slip is not clear in trench T7 because of the poorly-consolidated unit 6c. We therefore mark only E.H. 1. Marco et al (2005) |
Trench Logs T10 and T4 |
Figure 7 | Marco et al (2005) |
![]() ![]() The stratigraphy near the fault at Trench T15 of the southern group. The oldest age of bulk organic matter leached from of the alluvial sand layer is 5 kaF50 yr. The concordance of the other dates with the stratigraphy indicate their reliability. The top of the trench shows the surface expression of the fault, where the eastern side is about 0.8 m higher than the western side. Marco et al (2005) |
Trench Log T15 |
Figure 8 | Marco et al (2005) |
![]() ![]() Top: calibrated date distribution for samples from trenches T2, T4, and T10. Center: probability density functions for radiocarbon dates that constrain the timing of the penultimate event at the Bet-Zayda palaeoseismic site. The dates were trimmed with Bayesian statistics in OxCal,and the probability density function for the event age is calculated from the radiocarbon ages. Note that the historical 1202 earthquake falls within the probability distribution, and is in fact the only historical earthquake in the vicinity that can possibly fit the age distribution. This indicates that the detrital charcoal dated for this study was not resident in the system for an extended period of time (decades versus centuries). Bottom: calibrated date distribution for samples from trench T15. Calibration of C14 ages was done with the Bronk Ramsey’s (2002) OxCal program version 3.8 using the atmospheric data of Stuvier et al. Marco et al (2005) |
Age Model | Figure 9 | Marco et al (2005) |
Link | Caption |
---|---|
Trench T45 | a - north wall of T45 b- south wall of T45 |
Trench T41a | c - east wall of T41a, which is a deeper re-exposure of T33 |
Trench T37 | d - north wall of T37 e - south wall of T37 |
Trench T33 | f - east wall of T33 where channel 3 is exposed |
Trench T39 | g - north wall of T39 h - south wall of T39 |
Trench T34 | i - east wall of T34, where channels 2 and 3 are exposed. |
All Trenches |
Figure S1 [PDF; 42.5 MB]. High resolution photomosaic logs of trench walls. 14C sample dates in the log are not calibrated (years BP).
For trench locations, see Figure 2c in the main article. Units are numbered and their descriptions appear in Table S1 of the supplementary material:
|
Table S1 | Unit descriptions for channels 3 and 4. |
Wechsler, N., et al. (2018). "Variable slip-rate and slip-per-event on a plate boundary fault:
The Dead Sea fault in northern Israel." Tectonophysics 722.
Wechsler, N., et al. (2014). "A Paleoseismic Record of Earthquakes for the Dead Sea Transform Fault between the
First and Seventh Centuries C.E.: Nonperiodic Behavior of a Plate Boundary Fault." Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.
Electronic Supplement to
Wechsler, N., et al. (2014). "A Paleoseismic Record of Earthquakes for the Dead Sea Transform Fault between the
First and Seventh Centuries C.E.: Nonperiodic Behavior of a Plate Boundary Fault." Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.
Marco, S., et al. (2005). "Late Holocene activity of the Dead Sea Transform revealed in 3D palaeoseismic trenches on the Jordan Gorge segment." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 234(1-2): 189-205.
Wechsler, N. (2005). Paleoseismology in the Eastern Kinnarot Basin, Dead Sea Transform, Tel Aviv University.
Slip Rate Calculator
Tom Rockwell (personal correspondence, 2022) relates the following:
In our 2014 paper, we show a map of the site, which includes our original locator trench - T30 - in which we searched for channels. For Neta's post-doc work, we focused on the northern set of channels, but look at the ages of the southern several channels - they fill in time periods that we didn't investigate. I believe that area is still open for study - was a bit salty for the farmers.
T30 Trench Log
from Tom Rockwell (email 30 March 2022)