Shear wave reflection seismic yields subsurface dissolution and subrosion patterns: application to the Ghor Al-Haditha sinkhole site, Dead Sea, Jordan

dc.bibliographicCitation.firstPage1079eng
dc.bibliographicCitation.issue5eng
dc.bibliographicCitation.lastPage1098eng
dc.bibliographicCitation.volume9eng
dc.contributor.authorPolom, Ulrich
dc.contributor.authorAlrshdan, Hussam
dc.contributor.authorAl-Halbouni, Djamil
dc.contributor.authorHolohan, Eoghan P.
dc.contributor.authorDahm, Torsten
dc.contributor.authorSawarieh, Ali
dc.contributor.authorAtallah, Mohamad Y.
dc.contributor.authorKrawczyk, Charlotte M.
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-20T08:29:19Z
dc.date.available2022-04-20T08:29:19Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractNear-surface geophysical imaging of alluvial fan settings is a challenging task but crucial for understating geological processes in such settings. The alluvial fan of Ghor Al-Haditha at the southeast shore of the Dead Sea is strongly affected by localized subsidence and destructive sinkhole collapses, with a significantly increasing sinkhole formation rate since ca. 1983. A similar increase is observed also on the western shore of the Dead Sea, in correlation with an ongoing decline in the Dead Sea level. Since different structural models of the upper 50 m of the alluvial fan and varying hypothetical sinkhole processes have been suggested for the Ghor Al-Haditha area in the past, this study aimed to clarify the subsurface characteristics responsible for sinkhole development. For this purpose, high-frequency shear wave reflection vibratory seismic surveys were carried out in the Ghor Al-Haditha area along several crossing and parallel profiles with a total length of 1.8 and 2.1 km in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The sedimentary architecture of the alluvial fan at Ghor Al-Haditha is resolved down to a depth of nearly 200 m at a high resolution and is calibrated with the stratigraphic profiles of two boreholes located inside the survey area. The most surprising result of the survey is the absence of evidence of a thick (> 2–10 m) compacted salt layer formerly suggested to lie at ca. 35–40 m depth. Instead, seismic reflection amplitudes and velocities image with good continuity a complex interlocking of alluvial fan deposits and lacustrine sediments of the Dead Sea between 0 and 200 m depth. Furthermore, the underground section of areas affected by sinkholes is characterized by highly scattering wave fields and reduced seismic interval velocities. We propose that the Dead Sea mud layers, which comprise distributed inclusions or lenses of evaporitic chloride, sulfate, and carbonate minerals as well as clay silicates, become increasingly exposed to unsaturated water as the sea level declines and are consequently destabilized and mobilized by both dissolution and physical erosion in the subsurface. This new interpretation of the underlying cause of sinkhole development is supported by surface observations in nearby channel systems. Overall, this study shows that shear wave seismic reflection technique is a promising method for enhanced near-surface imaging in such challenging alluvial fan settings.eng
dc.description.versionpublishedVersioneng
dc.identifier.urihttps://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/8742
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.34657/7780
dc.language.isoengeng
dc.publisherGöttingen : Copernicus Publ.eng
dc.relation.doihttps://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1079-2018
dc.relation.essn1869-9529
dc.relation.ispartofseriesSolid earth : SE 9 (2018), Nr. 5eng
dc.rights.licenseCC BY 4.0 Unportedeng
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/eng
dc.subjectDissolutioneng
dc.subjectLandformseng
dc.subjectSea leveleng
dc.subjectSeismic waveseng
dc.subjectSeismologyeng
dc.subjectShear floweng
dc.subjectShear waveseng
dc.subjectSilicateseng
dc.subjectStratigraphyeng
dc.subjectSulfate mineralseng
dc.subjectSurveyseng
dc.subjectLacustrine sedimentseng
dc.subjectScattering wave fieldseng
dc.subjectSedimentary architectureeng
dc.subjectSeismic reflectionseng
dc.subjectShear wave reflectioneng
dc.subjectSinkhole developmenteng
dc.subjectSubsurface characteristicseng
dc.subjectSurface observationeng
dc.subjectChloride mineralseng
dc.subject.ddc550eng
dc.titleShear wave reflection seismic yields subsurface dissolution and subrosion patterns: application to the Ghor Al-Haditha sinkhole site, Dead Sea, Jordaneng
dc.typearticleeng
dc.typeTexteng
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.journalTitleSolid earth : SEeng
tib.accessRightsopenAccesseng
wgl.contributorLIAGeng
wgl.subjectGeowissenschafteneng
wgl.typeZeitschriftenartikeleng
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