Paleomagnetic mapping in various areas of the easternmost mediterranean based on an integrated geological-geophysical analysis

It is now accepted that paleomagnetic research is a powerful geophysical tool that enables the unmasking of significant details of the geodynamic and tectonic settings of areas under study that often cannot be discovered by other methods. At the same time, applying the paleomagnetic study only to complex geological regions is usually insufficient. A first paleomagnetic-radiometric map of the Sea of Galilee and its surroundings enabled us to reveal the zones of predominantly direct and inverse polarity (the Brunhes, Matuyama, Gauss, Gilbert and more ancient epochs), and to define the tectonic-structural pattern of the area under study. Results of 3-D physical-geological models along the profile through the Sea of Galilee enabled us to find the reversely magnetized Earth's crust block (Neoproterozoic?) within the Galilee-Lebanon terrain. On the basis of a comprehensive examination of paleomagnetic, radiometric and tectono- structural data in Makhtesh Ramon (the Ramon Crater in Israel's Negev Desert), a first paleomagnetic map of this area was constructed, and the Illawarra, Omolon, Gissar and Jalal hyperzones were contoured. The analysis of magnetic, radiometric, and structural- geological data in the Hameishar region (south of Makhtesh Ramon) indicates that basaltoids apparently relating to the Illawarra paleomagnetic hyperzone had developed. For an analysis of geodynamic history and tectonic patterns of the easternmost Mediterranean oceanic crust, a detailed paleomagnetic examination, combined with magnetic, gravity, seismic, and other geophysical methods analysis, radiometric dating, and numerous geological methods have been applied. The delineated block of inverse magnetization of submeridional strike in the easternmost Mediterranean (with a width reaching 70 km, length about 200 km, and vertical thickness about 10 km) was identified as a Kiama hyperzone of inverse polarity. The examination of a radiometrically dated structural-tectonic profile through the Mt. Carmel area (northern Israel) and comprehensive analysis of radiometrical, geophysical, petrological, facial, structural, and other geological data in surrounding areas indicates that to the west of the Kiama zone is the Jalal zone, and to the east, the Illawarra, Omolon and Gissar hyperzones. A comprehensive analysis of all paleomagnetic materials and integrated examination of numerous geophysical-geological data allowed us to draw a paleomagnetic-tectonic map of the easternmost Mediterranean. The paleomagnetic reconstructions could be used for reconsidering tectonic zonation, paleogeodynamical reconstructions, and searching for economic deposits in this region.