Doming mechanisms and structural development of two domes in Ramon, southern Israel

Gidon Baer*, Ze'ev Reches

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Domes may develop above igneous intrusions, over rising diapirs, along strike-slip faults or within arrays of folds. The details of doming mechanisms are resolved here for two domes in southern Israel by determining and modeling the tectonic paleostresses. These domes are elongated structures with width to length ratios of 1:2, developed in Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary layers. The domes are adjacent and parallel to the Ramon fault, which is part of a 250 km long and 50 km wide shear zone. A quartz-syenite body of Early Cretaceous age intruded one of the two domes, Gevanim. This intrusion has a stepped geometry in cross section, in which concordant roof segments are connected by vertical piercement faults; some of these faults are continuous into the overlying sedimentary layers. The second dome, Saharonim, has no central intrusion. The paleostress field within and outside the domes was determined by stress inversion of fault-slip data and by dynamic analysis of calcite twins. The two domes differ in their stress history and doming mechanisms. The Gevanim Dome initiated according to Gilbert's model of laccolithic intrusion: uplift and bending associated with the emplacement of the quartz-syenite body along peripheral faults. The stress field during the intrusive stage was of vertical σ1, radial σ2 and tangential σ3. The Saharonim Dome initiated during the Triassic as a tilted block, and developed into a dome under layer-parallel compression since the Late Cretaceous. The two domes were later amplified by the regional stress fields of Late Cretaceous to Recent. It is likely that stress rotation associated with slip along the Ramon fault affected the development of the domes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)293-315
Number of pages23
JournalTectonophysics
Volume166
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Sep 1989

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Doming mechanisms and structural development of two domes in Ramon, southern Israel'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this