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The shrinkage of the Lisan Lake (LL) to form the recent Dead Sea (DS) was mainly a result of the reduction of the catchment
area from around 157,000km2 during Late Pleistocene to 43,000km2 presently. The reduction in the catchment area resulted from the eruption and spread of the basalt flows of Jabal Arab-Druz
(JAD), which together with the result...
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Context 1
... catchment area of the DS extends into Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel. It measures about 43,000 km 2 (USGS 1998;Arkin 1982) and drains areas receiving as much as 1,200 mm/year of precipitation in the north, decreasing to 60 mm/year in the southeast and to 30 mm/year in Wadi Araba and the southeastern catchment of Sinai Peninsula (Fig. ...
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Citations
... Studies of catchment geomorphology that target the influence of tectonics on geomorphological processes often focus on river incision due to uplift and rejuvenation, taking into account regional geological events (Rodríguez-Iturbe and Rinaldo 1997; Willgoose and Hancock 1998;Kirby and Whipple 2001;Keller and Pinter 2002;Snyder et al. 2000;Huggett 2007;Bull 2007;Scotti et al. 2014;Wohl 2020;Tarolli and Mudd 2021). The Dead Sea rift valley in Jordan has been the subject of a number of critical tectonic geomorphic studies on catchment geomorphology (e.g., Horowitz 2001;Salameh and Al Farajat 2007;Odeh et al. 2010), but because of its complicated geology and geomorphology (Quennell 1956;Bender 1974;Horowitz 2001), still needs more research to adequately understand the relationship between geological events and catchment geomorphology. Understanding the factors that shape catchment topography is crucial for developing hydrological models essential for sustainable water resource management in the area. ...
... They form part of the massive alkaline Oligocene to Holocene Harrat Ash Shaam volcanic field (black desert) that extends from SW Syria through NE Jordan to N Saudi Arabia (Bender 1974;Quennell 1956). Eruptions from the volcanoes occurred simultaneously with faulting along the Dead Sea Transform, and the basaltic flows led to shrinkage of the Dead Sea catchment area (Salameh and Al Farajat 2007). ...
... The volcanic Al-Druze Mountains occupy the entire upper portion (> 20%) of the catchment and reach up to 1800 m asl. Salameh and Al Farajat (2007) showed that the eruptions led to the shrinkage of the Dead Sea catchment, of which the Zarqa river catchment area is a part (Fig. 9). Since the eruption of this volcanic field created the upper part of the Zarqa catchment, it has been shallowly incised (10-15 m) by the headwaters of the Zarqa River. ...
The catchment geomorphology of the Zarqa River in Jordan was investigated using a three-dimensional model and interpretation of geology. There are three major elements that control the Zarqa River catchment and its drainage networks: lithological units, faults and paleovolcanism. The upper catchment is typical of a youthful stage of river development with relatively recent lava fields that have infilled and reduced the original size of the catchment. The lower part of the catchment includes a convex profile probably resulting from the coalescence of knickpoints generated by uplift along the Dead Sea fault. The lower and middle sections of the catchment contain remnants of an older, wider valley, 200–500 m above the present river level, that probably formed during a hiatus in tectonic and volcanic activity from ~ 22 to ~ 13 Ma.
... The lake level fluctuations in the DS are a function of the evaporation/precipitation and runoff (including the inflow from subsurface springs) balance ( Abu-Jaber, 1998;Al-Weshah, 2000;Salameh and Al Farajat, 2007;Enzel et al., 2008). The ...
... Dead Sea receives its fresh water input from its ca. 43000 km 2 catchment (Salameh and Al Farajat, 2007) primarily through northern tributaries (e.g. the Jordan River), western highlands and groundwater discharge, and from the eastern highlands that drain into the Dead Sea ( with southerly winds (26%), while during summer, the northerly winds increase (69%) compared to the southerly winds (8%). During both seasons, Eeastern ...
... The DSB catchment orographic gradient of precipitation between the highlands and the lower rift is ca. 30 mm /100 m(Salameh and Al Farajat, 2007).For example, higher annual precipitation is recorded in Amman Airport and Rabba stations compared to Es Safi station in the southern DSB(Figure 4.13 b)(Alraggad et al., 2017). The average annual precipitation over the present Dead Sea is ca 100 mm.yr -1(Alraggad et al., 2017), while over the northern highlands of the DSB catchment it can reach up to >800 mm.yr -1 , and the southern arid to hyper-arid zone receives <50 mm.yr -1 precipitation(Kahana et al., 2002;Salameh and Al Farajat, 2007) (Figure 4.13). ...
Past lacustrine and wetland sediments from arid regions, sensitive to changes in precipitation and evaporation, are important archives of past environmental variability. This thesis presents new data that contribute to the Quaternary records of Jordan through multi-proxy analyses of sediment archives from two study sites in southern Jordan; the Gharandal Valley and the Dead Sea Basin. Through detailed analyses of the sediments from the two study sites, the depositional environments, environmental conditions, and how these changed, and to some extent their timing were reconstructed. Sediments from the Gharandal Valley were investigated and collected from five different sedimentary sections (> 30 m sediments) and analyzed for particle size distribution, organic and carbonate content (through LOI), and elemental (through XRF) and minerogenic (through magnetic susceptibility) composition. The results indicated complex tectonic/climate-driven depositional environments prevailed in the valley, during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6, alternating from fluvial in-wash to fluvio-aeolian and wetland deposition following the proposed valley outlet damming. The GH1 and GH2, the main sections in the valley, record the environmental aggradation from stream-fed wetland depositional conditions where thin wetland beds developed following in-wash events, in the lower parts, into more consistent wetland (wetter) conditions towards the top of the sections. These cycles were identified in 16 fining upward primary associations in the GH1 section and 8 fining upward primary associations in the GH2 section. The age estimate (MIS6) is consistent with wet phases recorded elsewhere in the Levant and increased monsoon precipitation recorded in southern Arabia suggesting that an influence of the two systems (the northeastern Mediterranean Cyclones and the southern tropical monsoon), which do not reach the valley site today, may have contributed to maintaining the wetland conditions in the valley during glacial stadials and interstadials. From the eastern side of the Dead Sea Basin (DSB), the lacustrine section DS1 was investigated. The section is primarily comprised of laminated pale and dark laminae and laminated detrital laminae with a thick gypsum-dominated bed. Considering the different nature of the sediments, the DS1 bulk sediments were first analysed using proxies mentioned earlier for the Gharandal Valley. In addition, the pale laminae were analysed for the carbonate isotope composition (δ13C and δ18O), mineralogy (through XRD) and carbonate crystal habit (through SEM EDS) analysis. Through preliminary U/Th dating of aragonite laminae, the DS1 section age was estimated at ca. 40 ka to 37 ka (MIS3). This places the section as part of the Lake Lisan Middle Member (ca. 58 ka to 31ka). Based on the sediment’s lithology and the multi-proxy records, the environmental history of the DS1 section, of enhanced/reduced freshwater input into the lake (P/E ratio) at millennial, centennial and close to annual scales, is recorded in four distinct lithostratigraphic units. The units record relatively high lake levels, then lake level lowering and the deposition of the gypsum bed, a lake re-filling stage and return to stable relatively high lake levels. The environmental proxies suggest that during Greenland Interstadials (GIs), the lake level was relatively higher than during Stadials (GSs). The gypsum bed, the lowest relative lake level in the record, probably coincides with Heinrich Event 4. At centennial scales, the environmental proxies apparently record lake level changes corresponding to the GIs indicating variable amounts of freshwater reaching the DSB. An initial assessment of the moisture source was done based on the aragonite initial 234U/238U ratios variability and indicated the dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean cyclones in driving the deposition of the DS1 section. The results of this thesis emphasize southern Jordan’s sedimentological and palaeoclimatic heterogeneity and the complexity of the past environmental records that can be recovered. This indicates the need for continued investigations and particularly more dating control, based on more comprehensive and detailed approaches in order to achieve a better assessment of the Quaternary sedimentological and environmental variability in the region.
... The basalts of Harrat esh Sham and Huran areas had built after their eruptions a hindering obstacle in the way of the surface water courses of the above mentioned drainage systems, which were during pre-basalt-eruption activities draining northwest towards the Jordan Valley area[7]. The surface water of the above mentioned drainage basins collects at present in areas at the interface of basaltic flows and the old pre-basalt topography forming water lakes, pools, oases and sabkhas, such as Azraq and Burqu in Jordan and Damascus and Hzouza in Syria[16] and[17]. ...
The hydrologic system in Jordan began its evolution with the regression of the Tethys during the Eocene and the rifting of Arabia from Africa. From that time onward Jordan lay on land. The rivers from Jordan and the Sirhan east of it flew into the Rift. On the Jordan land volcanism developed and was on and off active until sub-recent times. Flows of magma covered large areas in north and central Jordan. The uppermost hard layers of the deep valleys of the Yarmouk and the Mujib present evidence for their later erosion. The land to the east of the rift was low and in depressions lakes formed on the Jordan
plateau, which began to rise less than half a Million years ago.
Especially the Jafr and the Azraq Lakes developed a belt of green vegetation that attracted numerous animals which were hunted by early men. Tools for hunting and food preparation were produced from flint and assembled next to the former lake shores with time. The shape of these flint tools allows a coarse dating and documents the arrival of humans hundred thousand years ago and of modern
men between 50,000 and 80,000 years ago. Great changes in the shape of the eastern Rift margin had occurred before Lake Lisan evolved and its rising water flooded the mouths of canyons for example of Wadi Hasa, Wadi Mujib and Wadi Zerka Ma’in. On former gravel fans into Lake Lisan of the Tabaqat Fahl first agriculture still in Neolithic times evolved as well as in Amman where people from Ain Ghazal planted crops like barley and peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas and domesticated sheep, goats and pigs. The existence of
the highland lakes seems to have been of utmost importance to human migrations from Africa. Such lakes provided water and food for those humans in the Arid area of Jordan.
... In a previous work Salameh and Farajat (2008) studied the shrinkage of the Pleistocene Lisan Lake which covered during late Pleistocene time an area in the Jordan Rift Valley of about 3000 km 2 which shrinkage resulted in the formation of Lisan Lake successor; the Dead Sea, with an area of about 950 km 2 (before the start of the development of its feeding waters in the late fifties of the last century). These authors attributed that shrinkage to the eruptions of Jabel Druz (Harrat ash Shaam) basalts and to the taphrogenic movements and their accompanying intensified erosion and deposition activities. ...
Volcanic rocks of different eruption phases cover the central northern part of Jordan and contain a variety of
groundwater types with a wide range of salinities, plotting in different water compositions of Piper classification
and on the dissolution, mixing, ion exchange or reverse ion exchange lines in Durov diagram. The different types
show also variations in the isotopic compositions as a result of recent and historic recharge, evaporation, mixing
with ground waters of different origins (recharge areas) and water rock interactions.
In this article these groundwaters are classified in different types and their genesis investigated. The results
show that the major roles played in the genesis of the different water types are: water rock interaction with the
aquifer matrix and with the deposits of enclosed lakes which formed in between the different volcanic eruption
phases. Both mechanisms are playing the major role in the groundwater genesis of the area. Formerly, irrigation
return flows were made responsible for producing the different groundwater types, but that assumption seems to
be unrealistic as can be shown by the analyses of the genesis and evolution of the different groundwater types.
Through the study of the hydrogeochemistry of basalts of Harrat ash Shaam and its surrounding areas it was
possible, on the example of Azraq clay and evaporate deposits, to refer the high salinity water with ion exchange
reactions to buried clay and evaporates' deposits under the basaltic cover in Dhleil-Hallabat, Al Umari, Hazim
and eventually Safawi areas. Such deposits may have big economic value.
The study shows that hydrogeochemical prospecting in such areas covered by different basaltic eruptions is a
very useful tool in locating clays' and evaporates' types of mineral deposits.
... The timing of lateral and vertical motion within the Jordan Rift is not known in detail. SALAMEH & FARAJAT (2007) reconstructed the flow of water into the rift as coming predominantly from the eastern side using the Sirhan depression including the Azraq Basin until the Pleistocene. Sediments and water were thus discharged into the Jordan Rift Valley coming predominantly from the east. ...
... Thus the recent Jordan River and ancient Bakura River probably had different sources. The bulk of the water of Bakura River was probably derived from the east and northeast getting its water from the older drainage system which included the Damascus, the Hammad and the Sirhan Basins, before the blocking of much of it by the Hauran and Harrat es Sham basalts (SALAMEH & FARAJAT, 2007). SCHÜTT, 1988(BANDEL, 2000. ...
... SALAMEH & FARAJAT (2007) suggested that Sirhan Depression was the source area for most of the sediments deposited in the Jordan Valley. ...
The reconstruction of the geological history of the Jordan Valley is based on interpreting its sediments and fossils reflecting the presense of sea bay at Late Oligocene up to the formation of the present salty Dead Sea during theHolocene. The Late Tethys – Early Mediterranean Sea had entered the northern Rift valley during the early stage of its formation. The Tayba Formation reflects the presence of a shallow sea within the Rift as exposed at Wadi Al Qarn near the town Abu Habil and beaches of that sea with coastal fauna along the eastern side of the rift-valley near to the towns Shuna and Waqqas. First saline deposits evolved when the sea withdrew during early Miocene as exposed near Waqqas. Rivers coming from the East discarted their gravel consisting of eroded limestones and flint of Late Cretaceous to Eocene deposits into the new depression. Channels filled with alluvial gravel are exposed to the east of the eastern Rift margin and west of the town Awsara. During the latest Miocene, in the Messinian period, the Mediterranean Basin to the West had lost most of its water due to closure of the connection to the Atlantic Ocean and strong evaporation. The continental slope at the western Levant became dry land while the up to 3 km deep depression of the Levantine Basin developed to the west of it. It is assumed that a river coming from the Arabian Sirhan Depression in the east and crossed the Rift. It excavated a valley, the Beisan Canyon, which connected the Rift Valley with the Qishon Canyon on the continental slope in the West. That river ended near the large salt lake on the base of the Levantine low in the Mediterranen Basin.
During a late stage of the Messinian fresh water, coming from the Paratethys in the east, brought a fauna of the Lago Mare Period and it reached the Levantine Basin. It entered the Jordan Valley depression following the river through Beisan Canyon. With it the characteristic molluscan fauna of fresh water entered the Rift and has since developed into the characteristic fresh water fauna of Jordan.
During the following Zanklean flood that filled the Mediterranean Basin with sea water coming from the Atlantic Ocean, the salty water of the Levantine salt lake was pushed into the Rift Valley using Qishon Canyon in the slope and Wadi Beisan. In the deeper parts of the Rift lakes of salt enriched sea water developed into the Sedom lagoons.
Here the brines mixed with carbonate rich water from rivers and ground water predominantly coming from the
eastern land. The connection of the salt lakes in the Jordan-Dead Sea Rift with the Mediterranean Sea was subsequently closed by alluvial deposits originated predominantely from erosion in the east and by volcanic material. Soil and gravel covered the salt flats that had formed in the northern part of the Jordan Rift and sealed them. Larger and smaller lakes along with creeks and rivers provided the environment in which the mollusks of the type as are characteristic to the Lago Mare Fauna could live and evolve. The most conspicuous species belong to Melanopsis, Melanoides and Theodoxus and they among several other fresh water and land molluscs characterize the fauna of the Al Qarn Formation exposed on the margin of King Abdulla Canal just SW of Al Qarn ridge and west of the town Abu Habil. The lake deposits are underain and covered by alluvial gravel and these cover deformed Tayba Formation.
The beds of Al Qarn Formation were also deformed and inclined to the west, similar to the alluvial deposits of
Ghor al Katar exposed in the top of a saltdome at the reservoir of Karama Lake. The Wadi Al Qarn Sill developed forming a structure crossing the Jordan Rift that may correspond to the Marma Feiyad Sill reported from the western side of the Rift.
North of Al Qarn sill a flat valley floor evolved in the Rift depression in which a spring fed lake deposited Aramshi Formation. Its limestones overlie a truncated basalt pipe that may be time equivalent to the basalt dyke that overlies the alluvial Ghor al Katar Formation. Aramshi Formation is a relict of a former higher Jordan Valley Rift flat preserved north of Waqqas as flat topped hill. It became slightly tilted and its hard limestones were excavated when the alluvial flat of the Ghor formed, into which subsequently Bakura River excavated its valley. The molluscs living in or near Bakura River are very similar to those that lived in the Jordan River in historic times. Bakura River issued into Lake Samra that was larger than the modern Dead Sea but smaller than Lake Lisan. Rivers coming from the east discharged their gravel directly into Bakura River. As Samra Lake expanded it changed into the less salty Lake Lisan, which had its largest extension when it covered the whole Jordanian portion of the former Bakura River bed and had its shore just south of Lake Tiberias. The Wadi al Qarn Sill periodically divided Lake Lisan into a northern less salty and a southern more salty part. Plankton blooms of diatoms formed thin bedded diatomites north of the sill. After Lake Lisan had withdrawn most alluvials no longer reached the river but were deposited on the margin of the Ghor before they reach the Zor of River Jordan. The small rivers and creeks coming from the east discharged their water by way of the same valleys that had been excavated during and before deposition of Bakura Formation. As Lake Lisan was reduced in size due to evaporation and when its southern lake shore lay near Karama reservoir dam, the salinity of the lake had risen and deposits formed by it were dominated by gypsum.
The thick salt deposits present in the subsurface of the basins around Lake Tiberias, in the Karama area and in the Dead Sea Basin were mobilzed by structural unrest and formed diapirs. During existence of Lake Lisan a salt dome near Karama reservoir dam pushed the Ghor al Katar gravel Formation up to form an island with beach around it. Above that alluvial deposits and soils of Damya Formation were locally deposited before Lake Lisan had been transformed into the Dead Sea.
... In southern Syria, the volcanic region of Jabal Arab-Druz erupted approximately 11 000-10 000 years ago. Salameh and Al Farajat (2007) observed that thick basalt flows reduced the catchments' area from 157 000 km 2 to 41 650 km 2 . They deduced that a new equilibriumstate appeared in the hydrological budget of the lake. ...
In many areas of the world, subsidence related to the lowering of the water table is modifying the landscape and provoking costly environmental hazards.
We consider the Dead Sea (the Earth's lowest lake) as a model. Its water level was 395 m bMSL in the 1960s. Due to water diversions in the catchment area, as of 2016, the level has dropped to about 430 m bMSL. Here, as in other parts of the Anthropocene world, from China, to Iran, to Turkey, to Canada and the United States, consequences of human interventions are rapidly modifying the environment. Aggressive geomorphic processes leading to accelerated degradations are taking place and affecting landforms and infrastructures.
In Tectonic terms, the lake is a pull‐apart basin resulting from the motion of the Dead Sea Transform fault. Since the 1960s, a slice of brine of about 35 km ³ has been lost. The water table is dropping more rapidly in the lake than in the coastal zone creating an ever‐increasing head difference. Consequently, groundwater moves towards the sea to compensate for the imbalance, provoking the reactivation of the area's paleo‐channels with subsidence, sinkholes, and landslides.
Since the 1980s, industrial‐touristic infrastructure has covered newly emerging lands in geomorphic hazards‐prone areas of the coastal zone.
Time series analysis of high to very high resolution visible/radar satellite images acquired from the 1970s to present, revealed major landscape evolution. Such dynamic systems prevailing in recent decades permitted the study of human/environment interactions to help minimize their effects.
Major deformations of an industrial dike were analysed and quantified. The results underline the necessity in the Anthropocene of careful analysis of relevant data sources acquired before and during subsidence, particularly in karst topography zones and prior to the development of major human activities in economically appealing environments around the world. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... The presence of such a structure is mostly attributed to the absence or weakness of the groundwater aquifers at the top of the previously mentioned anticline structure. Besides, the faults affecting the Paleogene rocks as well as the influence of the volcanic eruptions possibly play a negative role on the hydrogeological setting (Salameh and Al Farajat 2007), because they redirect the regional groundwater flow coming from the north-west, thereby blocking the drainage of groundwater into Deir El-Adas region. ...
The present study is aimed at characterizing the subsurface geological and tectonic structure in Deir El-Adas area, by using Vertical Electrical Sounding survey (VES) and hydrogeological investigations, in order to determine the causes of the failure for the majority of the wells drilled in the area. The survey data was treated in three different approaches including direct VES inversion, pseudo-2D method and horizontal profiling, in order to maximize the reliability of the data interpretation. The results revealed the presence of a local faulted anti-cline structure at the top of the Paleogene formation, underneath the ba-saltic outcrops where Deir El-Adas village is situated. The appearance of this subsurface anticline structure has complicated the local hydro-geological situation, and most likely led to limitation of the groundwater recharge in the area. Moreover, the performed piezometric and discharge maps indicated the presence of a notable groundwater watershed, in addition to feeble water productivity of the wells drilled adjacent to Deir El-Adas, mostly related to the subsurface geological and tectonic settings in the area.
... These waters brought dissolved and suspended loads from the eroded rocks in the catchment areas of the depression. Which before the blocking of the drainage by Jabel Druz basalt eruptions had a catchment area of about 157,000 km 2 compared to the present catchment of 43,000 km 2 (Salameh and Al Farajat 2006;USGS 1998). The chemical loads included a variety of salts including bromide salts originating from the oil shale and phosphate rocks and Triassic and Jurassic evaporates. ...
The Dead Sea is worldwide a major bromine provider for industry with an average concentration of 5.2 g/l of bromide compared to 0.065 mg/l in seawater and with a Cl/Br weight ratio in the Dead Sea water of about 42 compared to around 300 in oceanic water. The origin of the high bromide concentration in the Dead Sea has not yet been adequately clarified. In the course of this study, the bromide concentrations in the different surface and groundwater bodies in Jordan were analyzed and the types of rocks with which these waters were in contact were identified. Analyses carried out up to about 30 years ago and recent analyses confirm the natural origin of bromide in the water and also confirm that the analyzed sources are not polluted by anthropogenic bromide sources. It was found that a variety of these surface and groundwater sources contain high concentrations of bromide which discharges into the Dead Sea and contribute to its high bromide concentration. The present study concludes that the late Cretaceous early Tertiary oil shale deposits form the major source of the bromine species in the surface and groundwater feeding the Dead Sea. Some bromide is also contributed by the Triassic and Jurassic rocks containing evaporate salts containing bromides. Phosphate rocks of late Upper Cretaceous age contribute also with appreciable amounts of bromine species to the different water sources and hence to the Dead Sea water. At present, dissolution and erosion of bromide-rich sediments laid down by the predecessor water bodies of the present Dead Sea such as the Lisan Lake are being transported into the Dead Sea and contribute relatively large amounts of secondary bromide to the Dead Sea water.
... Furthermore, climate changes have induced changes in the rift's water mass balance, triggering lake level fluctuations and temporal and spatial changes in lake water salinity (Horowitz 2001;Enzel et al. 2006). The Dead Sea catchment area has special conditions concerning of hydrogeology, hydrology, geomorphology and geology which have a major influence on the generation of the Dead Sea lake (Bender 1974;Niemi and Ben-Avraham 1997;Enzel et al. 2006;Salameh and Al Farajat 2007). ...
... The fault systems in Jordan have three main trends: (1) NW-SE, the oldest, parallel to the Red Sea and generated simultaneously with rifting (Johnson 1998;Odeh et al. 2010). The Wadi Al Sirhan catchment area has a fault that belongs to this system (Salameh and Al Farajat 2007). The system has been rejuvenated with lock rotation to become oriented WNW-ESE, and produced a shear belt along with (2) a WNW-ESE fault system, which is perpendicular to the Dead Sea transform fault (Garfunkel and Ben-Avraham 1996). ...
... Dead Sea surface water level fluctuations during different periods caused major changes in the river topographic profiles that discharge directly into the sea (Frumkin and Elitzur 2002;Street-Perrott and Harrison 1985). The Dead Sea surface water fluctuations affect the geomorphological characteristics of the catchment areas of those rivers (Street-Perrott and Harrison 1985;Salameh and Al Farajat 2007). It was understood that these fluctuations are due to the paleoclimatic changes, but recently more evidence about geological and geomorphological controls for these fluctuations became evident (Street-Perrott and Harrison 1985;Salameh and Al Farajat 2007;Whipple and Tucker 1999). ...
The geology of Jordan is characterized by fault systems with three major trends: (1) NW–SE, the oldest, (2) WNW–ESE, and (3) NNW–SSE, the youngest. The drainage network of the Wadi Zerka Ma’in catchment area, located in the middle of the Dead Sea rift, parallels these structural orientations. A regional transtensive fault, with embedded normal faults, bounds the lower and middle part of the catchment area. The topographic profile of the Zerka Ma’in River exhibits two major knickpoints where it crosses two major embedded normal faults. The second major knickpoint developed as a result of the dramatic lowering of the Lisan Lake water level, a lake that pre-dates the Dead Sea. The decreased water level triggered river incision into the clastic sandstone units of Wadi Zerka Ma’in. We performed a morphotectonic analysis study to investigate how the rock structures control the drainage network and the catchment area geomorphology. According to the transverse topographic symmetry factor (T), the catchment area is highly asymmetric. The major basin asymmetry trend is SE-oriented, parallel to the oldest set of fault systems. The catchment area displays a convex hypsometric curve indicating a very recent stage in the geomorphologic cycle. Our study indicates that the Lisan Lake catchment area shrinkage and structures growth controlled and shaped the Wadi Zerka Ma’in catchment area geomorphology. The combined use of a geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing was shown to be very efficient in unraveling the evolution of the drainage network and catchment area geomorphology.
... It finally separated the Azraq Lake from its former outflow to the west that existed along Wadi Dhuleil to River Zarqa at the time when Lisan Lake filled much of the former Jordan Valley. Also the flow of water towards Wadi Sirhan further to the south and east was hindered by low ridges of debris between the individual basins [21]. The salty moist flats in the North-Eastern part of Azraq have their own character. ...
