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Timing and mechanism of late-Pleistocene calcite vein formation across the Dead Sea Fault Zone, northern Israel

Authors :
I. Tonguç Uysal
Ram Weinberger
Miryam Bar-Matthews
Perach Nuriel
Gideon Rosenbaum
Jian-xin Zhao
Michael R. Gross
Suzanne D. Golding
Source :
Journal of Structural Geology. 36:43-54
Publication Year :
2012
Publisher :
Elsevier BV, 2012.

Abstract

The emplacement of calcite-filled veins perpendicular to the Dead Sea Fault Zone in northern Israel reflects strain partitioning during transpression. We present structural, geochemical, and U–Th geochronological data that constrain the mechanism, conditions and timing of vein formation. Vein walls are strongly brecciated and commonly cemented with coarsely crystalline calcite, whereas calcite-filled veins are composed of wall-parallel bands of calcite crystals. Elongated blocky and fibrous calcite crystals grew perpendicular to the vein walls and are characterised by a truncate sealing-hiatus morphology, indicating episodes of partial or complete sealing of the fractures during calcite precipitation. Stable isotope and rare-earth element and yttrium (REY) analyses indicate that calcite-filled veins precipitated by karst processes, involving meteoric water and limited fluid-rock interactions. U–Th dating results show a prolonged history of vein growth. While some veins initiated prior to 500 ka, the majority of the veins were active between 358 and 17 ka. Age constraints on vein activity correspond to an ∼E–W regional shortening phase in this sector of the Dead Sea Fault Zone, associated with an increased component of convergence during the late-Pleistocene.

Details

ISSN :
01918141
Volume :
36
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Structural Geology
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........d9c0799f88816297dbb7eea68ec847a4
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2011.12.010