Structural Elements and Seismic Activity in Jordan and Its Levant Surroundings

Earthquakes are among the most severe natural hazards that affect different regions of the globe. Generally, earthquakes take place on geologic weakness zones of the earth, especially faults. In Jordan and the Levant countries, active faults are abundant, especially, the Dead Sea Transform Fault and its offspring faults resulting in the formation of the Jordan Rift Valley. The Dead Sea Transform Fault is the main active tectonic feature in the region that builds the tectonic boundary between the Arabian and African plates. The recent earthquake of 2023 in Türkiye and Syria, which left behind tens of thousands of casualties and enormous damage, scared the inhabitants in Jordan who were afraid that such earthquakes might hit in Jordan. This paper discusses the main geologic structures in Jordan and its immediate surroundings, along which earthquakes have taken place in the past, and how the genetics of the geologic structures relate to the earthquakes and their magnitudes. The study concludes that the fractured tectonics and tensional faulting of Jordan characterized by short fault extensions including the Dead Sea Transform Fault, which, on its eastern side, is divided into several east-west striking blocks, seem to accommodate tectonic movements on a block size, and that does not allow for the accumulation of tectonic stresses to produce large earthquakes. Earthquakes during the last century indicate that only along the Jordan Rift Valley earthquakes of intermediate magnitudes have taken place, but along all other fault zones, only very mild earthquakes have taken place and are expected, in the future to release tectonic pressures in the same mild form.