Temporal Correspondence of Frontal Structures Activities due to the Mantle Progress Beneath the Arabian Plate: A Case Study Positive Inverted Anah Graben-Abu Jir Fault Zone

Abstract

During the Neogene, there were many clues of rock deformations through the Arabian Plate due to the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates, or the result of the influence of thermal convection currents of the Afar Mantle Plume, or both. However, there is controversy about where the force that reactivated some structures, such as the Anah Graben-Abu Jir Fault Zone, during the Miocene Period. The study focused on three structures extending approximately along one range of latitudes and roughly parallel to the frontal front of the progressive convection current of the Afar Mantle Plume; three structures are the Dead Sea Fault, Harrat Ash-Sham Volcanoes, and the positive inverted Anah Graben-Abu Jir Fault Zone. The study proved that there is harmony or coincidence in time and the nature of forces between the three structures. However, the activity that occurred on the positive inverted Anah Graben-Abu Jir Fault Zone during the Miocene resulted from the influence of convection currents of the Afar Mantle Plume, not due to the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. The current study also demonstrated that the chronology of the convection current's progress beneath the Arabian Plate corresponds to some previous studies, which indicate that this current reached the study area during the Miocene.