The Mid‐eighth Century CE Surface Faulting Along the Dead Sea Fault at Tiberias (Sea of Galilee, Israel)

Abstract

The Dead Sea Fault (DSF) is a plate-boundary where large earthquakes are expected, but there is a lack of such events in the instrumental era. Sequences of earthquakes along the DSF are documented by historical evidence, one of the most devastating occurred in the mid-eighth century CE. Here we describe site-specific archaeoseismological observations at the ancient Tiberias city, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. We map Roman and Byzantine relics faulted in the mid-eighth century CE by a pure normal fault. We use geophysical, geomorphological, and structural analyses integrated with published data, to assess the seismic hazard of the Jordan Valley Western Boundary Fault (JVWB). We propose that the normal JVWB can rupture the surface along its~45 km trace running from Tiberias toward the S crossing Bet Shean, Tel Rehov, and Tel Teomim. The JVWB, parallel to the main strike-slip Jordan Valley Fault segment, might be regarded as a major earthquake source in this region. We test the hypotheses of both single fault and multifaults rupture scenarios, which result in an expected range of Mw from 6.9 (single rupture of the JVWB) to 7.6 (multiple rupture of the JVWB and Jordan Valley Fault). Our results suggest that seismic source characterization in the Sea of Galilee region must include normal faults capable of surface rupturing, despite the absence of such events in the instrumental catalogue.

Mid-8th Century CE Seismic Sequences Along the Dead Sea Transform

“…The Holy Desert Quake (Figure 5) is the best characterized event so it will be discussed first. Studies in Tiberias [Marco et al, 2003, Hazan et al, 2004, and Ferrario et al, 2020 and archaeoseismic, paleoseismic 43 , and paleo-landslide studies (see Supplemental Appendices A-C) indicate that this earthquake devastated villages around the Sea of Galilee and was likely a result of both normal and strike-slip fault motion. Well-dated sites east of the Dead Sea Transform (e.g., Pella, Jerash, the Umayyad Palace on the Citadel in Amman, and Khirbet Yajuz) experienced high levels of seismic Intensity which, combined with textual reports from Southern Syria (e.g., Busra, Daraat, Nawa, Darayya, Damascus, Ghouta), indicates that seismic energy may have focused to the east.…”

“…Karcz [2004] describes the piyyut as lamenting "an earthquake that caused a widespread destruction and extensive casualties in Tiberias and a catastrophic flooding in the plain of Sharon." From archaeoseismic studies [e.g., Marco et al, 2003 andFerrario et al, 2020] and textual sources [Agapius of Menbij, Michael the Syrian, and Chronicon Ad Annum 1234] we know that Tiberias, a prominent Jewish town at the time, was devastated by the same Holy Desert earthquake which struck nearby Bet She 'an. Death and destruction in Tiberias is sufficient to have generated a lasting memory in the form of a fast.…”

Multi‐Segment Earthquake Clustering as Inferred From 36Cl Exposure Dating, the Bet Kerem Fault System, Northern Israel

“…Several methods are used to determine the Late Pleistocene—Holocene fault activity as well as the earthquake magnitudes and recurrence intervals. These include written historical records (Guidobon & Stucchi, 1993; Zohar et al., 2017), analyses of damage to historical and archeological sites (Ferrario et al., 2020; Marco, 2008), investigations of seismic trenches (Duross et al., 2016; Reches & Hoexter, 1981; Rockwell & Ben‐Zion, 2007; Wechsler et al., 2018), and recovering the seismic exhumation history of carbonated bedrock fault scarps using 36 Cl cosmogenic exposure dating methods (Benedetti et al., 2013; Harbor, 1997; Iezzi et al., 2021; Mitchell et al., 2001; Mozafari et al., 2022; Robertson et al., 2020; Schlagenhauf et al., 2010, 2011).…”

Detection of fault location and paleoseismic evidence in the cultural heritage site around Gyeongju, SE Korea

“…Historical heritage and/or archaeological sites are well-preserved under strict national legislation, and professionally protected sites may provide opportunities to study paleoearthquakes. First, the damage and destruction at an archaeological site may be attributed to ancient earthquakes and can be used in the analysis of the source fault (Jackson et al, 2006;Marco, 2008;Silva et al, 2009;Ellenblum et al, 2015;Benjelloun et al, 2020;Ferrario et al, 2020;Lazar et al, 2020). This approach could be useful for creating a catalog of earthquakes and understanding the history of destructive earthquakes, particularly in intraplate regions.…”