Event WT2 was identified in Trench T2 at Ghor Khabed, a pull-apart system on the Jordan Valley Fault. The trench was excavated across the western fault section of the Ghor Khabed depression, where late Pleistocene Lisan deposits, Damya formation sediments, and Holocene pull-apart deposits are affected by faulting within a broad shear zone approximately 2.5 m wide.
The event evidence consists of a Y-shaped rupture located at the eastern end of Trench T2. The rupture affects units g and f and extends upward into the base of unit e. According to Ferry et al. (2011:52), this feature represents the oldest earthquake-related deformation recognized in Trench T2 and predates all younger faulting events identified within the exposure.
The chronology of Event WT2 is poorly constrained. Because the rupture affects units g and f and reaches the base of unit e, the earthquake occurred after deposition of units g and f but before completion of unit e. Ferry et al. (2011) note that Event WT2 may have been approximately contemporaneous with deposition of unit e, placing it within the period represented by the Damya Formation, which, according to Abed and Yaghan (2000), dates to approximately 16-12 ka, or roughly 12,000–10,000 BCE. An additional constraint is provided by a calibrated radiocarbon date from sample Ka-T2-6N from unit g, which yielded an age of 16,300–14,700 BCE. Because Event WT2 cuts unit g, the earthquake must have occurred after that interval. Together, these observations suggest that Event WT2 occurred sometime after 16,300–14,700 BCE and probably during deposition of the Damya Formation in the latest Pleistocene or earliest Holocene.
- Fig. 3C Location Map of the
Ghor Khabed Site from Ferry et al. (2011)
Geomorphology of the Ghor Kabed site from a high-resolution total station topographic survey. The eastern fault strand shows a linear and continuous geometry with a gentle slope (the steep slope visible to the north is artificial), while the western strand displays a steeper slope and a left-step geometry. Two trenches were excavated at that site: T1 on the central strand north of the depression, and T2 on the eastern strand southeast of the depression (see logs in Fig. 5). Height curve spacing is 0.25 m.
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Ferry et al. (2011)- Fig. 5E Stratigraphic Correlation
between Ghor Khabed and Tell Saidiyeh Trenches from Ferry et al. (2011)
Correlations of stratigraphic sections of trenches. The geological formations of Lisan and Damya are common basement-bottom units for trenches. Erosion processes (tilde lines) have major effects on soft sediments, and Trench T3 shows a significant hiatus of the Damya formation. The correlation between alluvial and lacustrine deposits and the related radiocarbon dating (see also Table 1 and Fig. 7) illustrate the different recent depositional environments at trench sites.
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Ferry et al. (2011)- Table 1 Radiocarbon Table
from Ferry et al. (2011)
Radiocarbon Dating of Samples Collected in Trenches T1 and T2 (Ghor Kabed Site) and T3 and T4 (Tell Saidiyeh Site)
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Ferry et al. (2011)- Fig. 4D Main Shear Zone in
Trench T2, Ghor Kabed from Ferry et al. (2011)
Main shear zone in trench T2 affecting Lisan (massive clay) and Damya (clastic) units. Thin lines are stratigraphic contacts, thick lines are faults, and dashed lines mark the bottom of the trench
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Ferry et al. (2011)Fig. 5b
Trench T2 displays a main fault zone filled with breccia that have been ruptured afterward and documents the most recent event, radiocarbon dated after A.D. 560-660. Combined, these observations suggest two surface-rupturing events occurred at Ghor Kabed between A.D. 560 and A.D. 1800, which may be related to the A.D. 749 and A.D. 1033 events.
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Ferry et al (2011)
