geological framework of the levant volume ii: the...

i

Geological Framework of the Levant

Volume II: The Levantine Basin and Israel

Edited by

John K. HallGeological Survey of Israel

Marine Geology, Mapping & Tectonics Division30 Malchei Israel Street,Jerusalem 95 501, Israel

Valery A. KrasheninnikovGeological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Pyzhevsky Pereulok 7,109017 Moscow, Russia

Francis HirschGeological Survey of Israel

30 Malchei Israel Street,Jerusalem 95 501, Israel

Chaim BenjaminiDepartment of Geological and Environmental Sciences

Ben-Gurion University of the NegevP.O.B. 653, Beersheva 84 105, Israel

Akiva FlexerDepartment of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences,

Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel

Jerusalem, April 2005

543

INTRODUCTION

The basement of the continental areas surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean area (Fig. 20.1) belongs to the northern part of the Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS), which formed during the Neoproterozoic (Pan-African) orogenic cycle (Bentor, 1985; Stern, 1994; Stein and Goldstein, 1996) and ended in the Early Cambrian ca. 532 Ma (Segev, 1987; Beyth and Heimann, 1999; Mushkin et al., 1999). At that time the study area was located in the northern part of Gondwana, which later on, during the Variscan (Hercynian) orogeny, collided with Laurussia, and since then was broken up several times into continental fragments (Şengör et al., 1984; Segev, 2000a, 2002; Stampfli, 2000). Detailed informationabout the geology, stratigraphy, tectonism, and magmatism of this area is presented by several authors in this book.

The relief of the top crystalline basement in the Middle East was therefore produced mainly during the Phanerozoic Era. The Cenozoic structural elements are relatively well-preserved, whereas the older structures are preserved depending upon their relations with the younger ones.

The study of the crystalline basement depth in the subsurface of central Israel is based on the Helez Deep-1A and Gevim-1 boreholes, seismic reflection profiles, structural data (Trachtmanet al., 1990), and 3-D gravity and magnetic analyses. Rybakov et al. (1999a) previously prepared a small schematic map of the top crystalline basement.

The team at the Institute for the Study of the Continents in Cornell University (Barazangi, Isacks, Brew, Seber, Gomez, Sandvol, Steer, Vallve, Orgren, Fielding and others) compiled a regional map of the top crystalline basement. They collected a considerable amount of geophysical and geological data for the Middle East and organized it into a comprehensive GIS database.

In the framework of studying the lithospheric structure of the Levant area and its continental margins, Segev et al. (2003, Fig. 1) constructed a map of the top crystalline basement at better resolution in their study area.

In the present compilation of a regional scale map of the top crystalline basement, we used published data from Israel, Jordan and adjacent regions. Our new map reflects the overall geologicalprocesses that produced or significantly affected the basementtopography of the study area.

SOURCES AND METHODS Several recently published studies concerning basement data

for Israel and adjacent areas (see sources in Fig. 20.2) produced detailed and accurate maps. These maps, and the various types of source data that were used, are described below.

Deep BoreholesThe most reliable data is from deep boreholes (El Beialy,

1988; Abu Ollo and El Kholy, 1992; Alfy et al, 1992; Abu Saad and Andrews, 1993; Abdel Aal et al., 1994; Rybakov et al, 1999b; Folkman, personal communication). A few deep boreholes (Helez Deep-1A, Bessor-1 and Gevim-1 in Israel, Abu Hamth-1 in the Sinai peninsula, and Adjlun-1, Safra-1, and Jaffr-1 in Jordan) penetrated the whole sedimentary succession and thus provided direct measurement of its total thickness. The other deep boreholes were used as constraints in estimating the minimal basement depth, and to allow stratigraphic extrapolations.

The density logs for the oil and water boreholes were used for interpreting sedimentary basins and for calculating a general depth-density function (e.g. Rybakov et al., 1999b).

Seismic ProfilesFour seismic refraction profiles located in northern and central

Israel (Ginzburg and Folkman, 1979, Fig. 1) provided additional information on the depth to basement. These data were reanalyzed using the results of a commercial seismic reflection survey carriedout recently in northern Israel (Lutzkin, personal communication). This survey showed a few deep seismic reflectors correspondingto Mesozoic strata as well as the basement surface (two-way travel times are 3 s and 4.5 s). Taking into account the high velocity of the mainly carbonate Mesozoic sequence, the depth of the crystalline basement is estimated at ~2 km, which is deeper than previous estimates. For the areas of Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula (yellow polygons on the source map, Fig. 20.1), we digitized the available structural and isopach maps (Croatero, personal communication; Eyal et al., 1987; Ryan, 1978; Andrews, 1991; Andrews, 1992a, b).

Recently, Ben-Avraham et al. (2002) reported on a seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection experiment along two linescrossing the continental shelf of Israel (Fig. 20.1). The results of this study (location and crustal structure) were digitized and

Chapter 20

Depth to Crystalline Basement in the Middle East with Emphasis on Israel and Jordan

Michael RybakovGeophysical Institute of Israel, 6 Baal-Shem Tov Street, P.O.B. 182, Lod 71100, IsraelAmit SegevGeological Survey of Israel, 30 Malchei Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel

544 M. Rybakov and A. Segev

Fig. 20.1: Location map.

Depth to Crystalline Basement 545

Fig. 20.2: Source map.


added to this dataset. The scheme of sedimentary thickness for the Eastern Mediterranean (Malovitsky et al., 1975) is also included in the present compilation. For the westernmost part of the region, the results of deep seismic soundings on the Herodotus abyssal plain (profile between Egypt and Rhodes from Makris and Wang,1995) were taken into account even though they are located beyond our study area

Structural cross-sections, based on seismic profiles (AbdelAalet al., 2000 - western profile, and Al-Zoubi and Batayneh, 1999 -Eastern profile), were also taking into account. The last profile wascorrelated with boreholes and thus, provides information about the sedimentary sequence in northern Jordan.

Gravity DataGravity data were used for estimating the sedimentary fill

within the tectonic basins. Detailed information about the gravity network is presented in the previous Chapter 19 ‘Bouguer Gravity Map of the Levant – A New Compilation’.

Depths to the crystalline basement along the Dead Sea Transform (DST) have been adjusted using the results of the 3-D interpretation of the gravity data. The gravity anomalies, with magnitudes up to 140 mGal relative to the surrounding mountains, are caused by young low-density sedimentary rocks resting on top of older and denser rocks. Starting from the north, the gravity lows are found in continental basins corresponding to the Ghab, Bekka-Lebanon, Hula, Kinneret, Damia, Dead Sea, Timna, and Elat-Aqaba grabens respectively (ten Brink et al., 1999). These gravity lows were inverted to estimate the thickness of young sediments using the method developed by Jachens and Moring (1990). The sedimentary basin parameters obtained from the automatic inversion were used as initial conditions for the 3-D forward modeling. The density logs of the deep oil and water wells provided important information for the interpretation. Recently Rybakov et al. (2003) described in detail the methodology used in the 3-D gravity interpretation.

Magnetic DataComparison of the geological and aeromagnetic data for

the exposed crystalline basement in southern Sinai, the Eastern Desert of Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, shows that Precambrian basic magmatics cause intensive magnetic anomalies (Folkman and Assael, 1980). Similar magmatics, covered by Phanerosoic sediments, should be identified by their low frequency magneticanomalies. Interpretation of the aeromagnetic data could therefore be used to provide additional information about the basement depth and its composition. In the framework of the present study we have interpreted a few reliably identified low frequencymagnetic anomalies as being caused by Precambrian magmatic bodies.

Since any result obtained from the analysis of potential fielddata is inherently ambiguous, several approaches to determine the causative body parameters were utilized in this study. The interpretation began by using an automatic inversion program

by Troshkov and Groznova (Rybakov et al., 2000) and the widely known Werner deconvolution technique (the USGS package of Phillips, 1997). The features interpreted by both techniques generally coincide, however those obtained by the Werner deconvolution technique yielded slightly shallower results. The parameters of the magnetic bodies calculated by the automatic inversion programs were used as initial conditions for 3-D magnetic modeling, which helped to verify the confidenceintervals of the calculated parameters (Rybakov et al., 2000, 2002).

DiscussionThe compiled map of depth to the crystalline basement is

shown in Figure 20.3 as a shaded relief map with hypsometric tints related to depth.

All the direct and indirect measurements of depth to crystalline basement were used as data points in the total data set. These were then gridded with a node spacing of 2.5 km using the ‘inverse distance to a power’ method. The file containing digitizedfault traces was used in the gridding process. The two-dimensional fault file defines a line acting as a barrier to information flow whengridding. Data on one side of a fault is not directly used when calculating grid node values on the other side of the fault. Only the largest faults crossing the crust (such as the DST fault system) were thus included in the gridding process.

It should be noted that a large discrepancy in the basement depth values (about 2 km) was noted between the Cornell database and the present compilation along the Syria-Jordan border. Based on the Adjlun-1 well, which penetrated the crystalline basement (Abu Saad and Andrews, 1993), the basement depth values in southernmost Syria were gradually aligned with the Jordanian data set.

In regions where crystalline rocks outcrop at the surface, the relief elevations derived from the GTOPO30 data set were used in generating the basement surface. In the central part of Israel, the current model of the crystalline basement topography is based on the recently published grid from Rybakov et al. (1999a).

THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE CRYSTALLINE BASEMENT MAP

Figure 20.4 shows the study area divided into seven different terrains (A through G), based on features in the top crystalline basement map. Each terrain has certain attributes related to the underlying geology.

We begin with the younger and better-known Terrain A. Both Terrains A in the south, and G in the north, delimit the Levant area. Terrain G is an uplifted Cenozoic region north of the Cyprus Trench and the Palmyrides, on both sides of the DST. It represents the margins of the Alpine Orogenic Belt, a consequence of the collision of the African and Arabian plates with the Anatolian sub-plate. The geological characteristics of this terrain are beyond the scope of this work.


Fig. 20.3: Top basement map (main faults after: Garfunkel and Bartov, 1977; Garfunkel, 1981; Ben-Avraham, 1985; Brew et al. 1999; Abdel Aal et al., 2000; facies change after Druckman et al., 1975; Klitzsch, 1991; Hirsch et al., 1998; Al-Husseini, 1997).


Fig. 20.4 Top basement, structures according to: Garfunkel and Bartov, 1977; Garfunkel, 1981; Ben-Avraham, 1985; Brew et al. 1999; Abdel Aal et al., 2000). Of these lithofacies, the sandy, at the south typifies the shallow platform part of the Arabian Shield, and the carbonate at the north follows theMesozoic shallow continental margins (Druckman et al., 1975; Klitzsch, 1991; Hirsch et al., 1998; Al-Husseini, 1997).


Terrain A – Northern Afar Dome Regions of Cenozoic uplift surround the Red Sea, Gulf of Elat

(Aqaba), and the Gulf of Suez in the southeastern part of the study area where Precambrian crystalline basement rocks are exposed. This regional geological feature belongs to the northernmost part of the Afar dome structure (Fig. 20.5), which is a result of the Afar plume activity, initiated during the Eocene (Segev, Chapter 21 in this book). This activity produced vast amounts of volcanic rock (mainly the Afar-Yemen trap volcanics and the Arabian Harrats) that extend from Kenya to Turkey. The entire area of the Afar province was uplifted and later breached by the onset of the Red Sea spreading center.

Terrain B – Arabian/African Continental Platform Terrain B comprises the elevated platform terrain of

the Arabian Nubian Shield, which is covered by intermittent Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary successions consisting mainly of clastic units with several carbonate marine intercalations. In this terrain various sedimentary rock units, overlying diverse types of

Precambrian crystalline basement, reveal some discrepancies in the definition of the top basement interface. The main problem isprobably due to the presence or absence of the volcano-sedimentary Saramuj or Zenifim Formations of Precambrian-Early Cambrianage. This arkosic sequence, associated with conglomerates and igneous rocks (mainly of dolerite and rhyo-dacite composition, reviewed by Weissbrod and Sneh, 2002), may have very similar petrophysical properties to those of the Late Precambrian alkaline volcanic suites. In southern and central Jordan, and southern Israel, the clastic sediments of these units accumulated within tectonic basins (Weissbrod and Sneh, 2002), which formed during the Late Precambrian-Early Cambrian post-Pan African orogenic basin-and-range tectonic regime (Stern, 1994; Segev et al., 1999). In northeastern Jordan and further north, the thickness of Saramuj/Zenifim Formation increases (Hamad basin, Terrain C, see below).Therefore the transition between Terrains B and C is mainly caused by the thickening of this Precambrian volcano-sedimentary unit.

The change in the Mesozoic facies belts, from relatively thin continental clastics in the south to thicker shallow marine

Fig. 20.5: The Tertiary-Recent Afro-Arabia or the Afar dome (from Segev, 2000b) caused by the Afar plume activity.


carbonates in the north (Druckman et al., 1975; Hirsch et al., 1998) probably also contributed to the fast northward thickening in the Rutbah region.

Klitzsch (1991) reported similar facies changes, and thus the thickness transition of the Mesozoic rock units parallels the present continental margins of Sinai and Egypt.

Terrain C – Hamad Basin Based on integration of results from several geophysical

methods and well logs, Seber et al. (1993) and Brew et al. (1997) have suggested a basement depth of more than 8 km in southern Syria (Rutbah region). Furthermore, Brew et al. (1997) interpreted a ~3 km thick sedimentary succession below the Middle Cambrian Burj (Timna) Formation. Therefore, this Late Precambrian-Early Cambrian arkosic succession, as noted above, is probably the main deep fill of the Hamad Basin. This interpretation may explain someof the controversies concerning the basement depth in this terrain.

Terrain D – Palmyra Tectonic Belt

The Palmyrides fold belt of Syria is a tectonic belt that has been well-documented, mainly by the team at Cornell University’s Institute for the Study of the Continents. Best et al. (1993), Brew et al. (2001), and others reported the Palmyrides belt as a north-east-trending early Mesozoic (Permian) rift, which was inverted to a fold belt in the Cenozoic (Best et al., 1993) or Late Cretaceous (Brew et al., 1999). The deep basement (up to ~10 km) and thick sedimentary succession of this terrain is mainly due to the fact that its long rifting activity preserved the Paleozoic and the Early Mesozoic successions, which were only partially eroded during the Pre-Early Permian and the Early Cretaceous regional uplifts. Both uplifts and denudations were part of the Permian and the Cretaceous plume activities (Segev, 2000b; Segev, 2002; Segev, Chapter 21 in this volume).

Many of the studies (e.g. Brew et al., 1999) dealing with the Palmyrides fold belt delineated its southwestward continuation, after restoration of the DST, to the Levant oceanic basin. However, the basement high (Fig. 20.3) along Lebanon and western Israel is sealing off the trend of the Palmyrides rift. It is therefore possible

that part of the long duration Palmyrides rifting turned southward into central Israel and gradually terminated in the northern Negev.

Terrain E – Levant Passive Continental Margin The N-S continental margin along Lebanon and Israel shows

two steps displaced offshore opposite the Carmel structure and central Israel. The transition from continental to oceanic crust along the northern step is steeper and closer to shore. The E-W continental margin of NE Africa and Sinai originally had a similar gradual slope like that along the southern step (Israel), but the Pliocene-Recent loading of the Nile cone caused subsidence and thus a much steeper margin.

Terrain F – Eastern Mediterranean Oceanic Basin The oceanic nature of the Eastern Mediterranean is discussed

in many of the geophysical studies carried out in this area (e.g., Makris et al., 1983; Makris and Stobbe, 1984; Makris and Wang, 1994; Ben-Avraham et al., 2002). These authors suggest that Eratosthenes Seamount is a continental crustal stumbling block between the Levant and the Herodotus oceanic basins. Makris and Wang (1994) suggested a Jurassic age for the Levant oceanic crust, which is covered by a 10-14 km thick sedimentary succession.

Up-to-date compilations of most of the existing gravity and magnetic data suggest some other alternatives for interpreting the origin and structure of Eratosthenes Seamount, but these are beyond the scope of this paper.

Terrain G – North of the Collisional Zones The continental and marine areas in Terrain G are beyond the

limits of our specific area of interest and will not be consideredhere.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express their thanks to L. Fleischer, Z. Ben-Avraham, Z. Garfunkel V. Goldshmidt, Y. Rotstein, G. Shamir, and U. ten Brink for fruitful discussions.

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