The Dead Sea Fault is an active transform fault linking opening in the Red Sea with collision in the Taurus/Zagros Mountains. Motion is left-lateral and estimated at approximately 5-7 mm year −1 . The fault is seismically active, and can be divided into two distinct structural segments. This study focuses on the southern segment based mainly on the wealth of geophysical data. Owing to transtention caused by oblique-slip and the overlapping of en-echelon fault strands, a series of pull-apart basins were formed along the fault's length. These basins are long and deep-reaching in places more than 10 km deep. They are characterized by extensional, compressional, and asymmetrical structures varying in size from large-scale (defining the general structure of the Dead Sea fault valley) to small-scale (defining the internal structure). This study examines the internal structure of these basins from south to north and summarizes the state of knowledge to date.

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The Levant continental margin is divided into two major segments by the Carmel structure, which extends from the Dead Sea fault into the eastern Mediterranean. New seismic reflection data over the unexplored northern segment are used for completing the structural framework of the Levant area, together with existing data south of it. Inclusive depth structural maps of the area were produced for the base Pliocene and base Messinian evaporites. Previous studies indicate that differences between the two segments are well expressed in the deep crustal structure. The present study, which focuses mainly on the shallow section, shows that these differences are maintained throughout the accumulation of young sedimentary units, and even in the bathymetry. This preservation of segmentation, both in the shallow and in the deep structure, insinuates that the two segments were formed through different continental breakup processes, which continue to dictate the style of sediment accumulation.