TY - JOUR A1 - Weber, Michael H. A1 - Abu-Ayyash, Khalil A1 - Abueladas, Abdel-Rahman A1 - Agnon, Amotz A1 - Al-Amoush, H. A1 - Babeyko, Andrey A1 - Bartov, Yosef A1 - Baumann, M. A1 - Ben-Avraham, Zvi A1 - Bock, Günter A1 - Bribach, Jens A1 - El-Kelani, R. A1 - Forster, A. A1 - Förster, Hans-Jürgen A1 - Frieslander, U. A1 - Garfunkel, Zvi A1 - Grunewald, Steffen A1 - Gotze, Hans-Jürgen A1 - Haak, Volker A1 - Haberland, Christian A1 - Hassouneh, Mohammed A1 - Helwig, S. A1 - Hofstetter, Alfons A1 - Jackel, K. H. A1 - Kesten, Dagmar A1 - Kind, Rainer A1 - Maercklin, Nils A1 - Mechie, James A1 - Mohsen, Amjad A1 - Neubauer, F. M. A1 - Oberhänsli, Roland A1 - Qabbani, I. A1 - Ritter, O. A1 - Rumpker, G. A1 - Rybakov, M. A1 - Ryberg, Trond A1 - Scherbaum, Frank A1 - Schmidt, J. A1 - Schulze, A. A1 - Sobolev, Stephan Vladimir A1 - Stiller, M. A1 - Th, T1 - The crustal structure of the Dead Sea Transform N2 - To address one of the central questions of plate tectonics-How do large transform systems work and what are their typical features?-seismic investigations across the Dead Sea Transform (DST), the boundary between the African and Arabian plates in the Middle East, were conducted for the first time. A major component of these investigations was a combined reflection/ refraction survey across the territories of Palestine, Israel and Jordan. The main results of this study are: (1) The seismic basement is offset by 3-5 km under the DST, (2) The DST cuts through the entire crust, broadening in the lower crust, (3) Strong lower crustal reflectors are imaged only on one side of the DST, (4) The seismic velocity sections show a steady increase in the depth of the crust-mantle transition (Moho) from 26 km at the Mediterranean to 39 km under the Jordan highlands, with only a small but visible, asymmetric topography of the Moho under the DST. These observations can be linked to the left-lateral movement of 105 km of the two plates in the last 17 Myr, accompanied by strong deformation within a narrow zone cutting through the entire crust. Comparing the DST and the San Andreas Fault (SAF) system, a strong asymmetry in subhorizontal lower crustal reflectors and a deep reaching deformation zone both occur around the DST and the SAF. The fact that such lower crustal reflectors and deep deformation zones are observed in such different transform systems suggests that these structures are possibly fundamental features of large transform plate boundaries Y1 - 2004 ER -