-A vast sequence of quartz-rich sandstone was deposited over North Africa and Arabia during Early Palaeozoic times, in the aftermath of Neoproterozoic Pan-African orogeny and the amalgamation of Gondwana. This rock sequence forms a relatively thin sheet (1-3 km thick) that was transported over a very gentle slope and deposited over a huge area. The sense of transport indicates unroofing of Gondwana terranes but the exact provenance of the siliciclastic deposit remains unclear. Detrital zircons from Cambrian arkoses that immediately overlie the Neoproterozoic Arabian-Nubian Shield in Israel and Jordan yielded Neoproterozoic U-Pb ages (900-530 Ma), suggesting derivation from a proximal source such as the Arabian-Nubian Shield. A minor fraction of earliest Neoproterozoic and older age zircons was also detected. Upward in the section, the proportion of old zircons increases and reaches a maximum (40 %) in the Ordovician strata of Jordan. The major earliest Neoproterozoic and older age groups detected are 0.95-1.1, 1.8-1.9 and 2.65-2.7 Ga, among which the 0.95-1.1 Ga group is ubiquitous and makes up as much as 27 % in the Ordovician of Jordan, indicating it is a prominent component of the detrital zircon age spectra of northeast Gondwana. The pattern of zircon ages obtained in the present work reflects progressive blanketing of the northern Arabian-Nubian Shield by Cambrian-Ordovician sediments and an increasing contribution from a more distal source, possibly south of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. The significant changes in the zircon age signal reflect many hundreds of kilometres of southward migration of the provenance.

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Since the Middle Eocene, the northwest Arabian Platform has been emerging from the water and rising above sea level, whereas the adjacent Levant Basin has been subsiding and accumulating a thick sedimentary section. This study investigates these opposing vertical motions and the relative roles of tectonic‐driven versus isostatic adjustment forces involved. Such a distinction is strongly dependent on a reliable estimation of the paleobathymetry, which in pelagic environments may vary substantially. We use two different methods to estimate the paleo‐water‐depth in the deep Levant Basin in the Tertiary time. Isostatic balancing calculations with the adjacent inland region are employed to estimate the paleo‐water‐depth in the deep Levant Basin in the Middle Eocene, just before the commencement of the Late Tertiary tectonic phase. For later periods, we use morpho‐structural elements such as abrasion surfaces and incised canyons to build laterally changing topo‐bathymetry profiles. Our results indicate that in the Mid‐Eocene water depth in the deep Levant Basin was 2–3.5 km, which gradually decreased to 1.5 km today. Based on these results, our analysis shows that the enhanced subsidence of the Levant Basin reflects an isostatic response to sedimentary filling of a pre‐existing deep‐water basin with no involvement of a downward tectonic force. On the contrary, we suggest that the regional tectonic force was upward, counteracting a sedimentary loading effect. Further regional implication of this understanding is that the cause for uplifting and exposure of the NW Arabian Platform in the Late Tertiary extended far westward beyond the inland region.

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Zircon fission track (ZFT) ages of 17 Precambrian samples from deep boreholes and outcrops in southern Israel and Sinai fall within the range 328–373 Ma (Late Devonian‐Early Carboniferous). Single zircon grain age distributions are unimodal with a high chi‐square probability. The age data indicate total resetting of the ZFT clocks but only partial resetting of coexisting sphenes, constraining the temperatures attained to about 225° ± 50°C, followed by relatively rapid regional cooling at the times indicated. In the study area, the lower Paleozoic section presently overlying Precambrian rocks is limited to Cambrian strata, up to 300 m thick. Further, stratigraphic evidence for sub‐Carboniferous erosion is preserved only in SW Sinai. To the east, in southern Jordan, a 2–2.5 km thick lower Paleozoic succession is reported. Despite the lack of stratigraphic evidence in the study area, the ZFT data (1) strongly suggest that an equivalent or thicker section also existed, (2) constrain the timing of the erosion to Late Devonian‐Early Carboniferous (Hercynian), and (3) indicate that thermal gradients may have reached ≥50°C/km prior to the uplift/erosion event. Regional stratigraphic evidence indicates that the Late Devonian‐Early Carboniferous event was confined to a relatively narrow belt extending from the Gulf of Suez area to the vicinity of NE Syria and SE Turkey.

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