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Evidence for Phanerozoic reactivation of the Najd Fault System in AVHRR, TM, and SPOT images of central ArabiaSPOT stereoscopic and TM multispectral images support evidence in AVHRR thermal-IR images of a major unmapped shear zone in Phanerozoic cover rocks southeast of the ancient Najd Fault System in the Arabian Shield. This shear zone and faults of the Najd share a common alignment, orientation, and sinistral sense of movement. These similarities suggest a 200-km extension of the Najd Fault System and reactivation since it formed in the late Precambrian. Topographic and lithologic features in the TM and SPOT data along one of three faults inferred from the AVHRR data indicate sinistral offsets up to 2.5 km, en echelon folds and secondary faults like those predicted by models of left-lateral strike-slip faulting. The age of the affected outcrops indicates reactivation of Najd faults in the Cretaceous, judging from TM and SPOT data or in the Tertiary, based on AVHRR data. The total length of the system visible at the surface measures 1300 km. If the Najd Fault System is extrapolated beneath sands of the Empty Quarter to faults of a similar trend in South Yemen, the shear zone would span the Arabian Plate. Furthermore, if extensions into the Arabian Sea bed and into Egypt proposed by others are considered, it would exceed 3000 km.
Document ID
19890064700
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Andre, Constance G.
(Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1989
Publication Information
Publication: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing
Volume: 4
ISSN: 0099-1112
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Accession Number
89A52071
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-958
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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